Tabula Rasa [Midori]

[Morgan]

“Hey, dad! Dad!”

“What is it?”

“Look at what I got for you! It’s, uhm…I worked really hard on it, so I’d like you to take it with you before you go!”

“…Is that so? If it’s really that valuable to you, I can’t keep this.”

“Wh-what do you mean? You—“

“That’s why I promise; once I return, I’ll give this back to you.”

To the boy with bright, shining eyes, the father made a promise he would not be able to keep, and turned, going off into the distance, the final seconds he would ever share with his son being incited into the boy’s memory forever.

“…ahh…wh…”

He gasped rapidly, his chest feeling as if he had not taken a breath in several years. Arrhythmic and almost panicked, only the cacophonous sound of the tall, unkempt grass being blown with gusts of wind interrupted the man’s ragged breaths. Slowly, he began to calm. Be it from the soft rustling of the wind against the greenery, the fact that the sky was quite the clear blue color, or from the sun glaring into his eyes, he slowly composed himself and began to take deep breaths.

“…a dream? I…I had a dream?”

His voice was hushed, almost as if he were afraid to admit the fact which he had just whispered almost inaudibly. His heart was pounding, but for one reason only: they couldn’t remember what the dream was about. Only the ending, the final bits of it, were contained in his memory.

The worst part was that he didn’t know what role he had played in that dream.

He moved his hands to his face, pressed down on his eyes gently with balled-up fists, before running their palms along the length of his face, a refreshing feeling ensuing to take over him as he did. He rose from his spread-eagle position in the grass to a sitting position with crossed legs.

He was still taking deep breaths, the thick, humid air making him feel a bit more compressed than he should have, especially in this field where he could see for hundreds of meters around. He turned his head from one side to the other, getting a panoramic view of everything he could. Off in one direction was a thick forest, the opposite there was a castle, and he thought he could see a town off on the horizon, past some cut-down logs.

He felt claustrophobic once more, and repeated the process of wiping the dirt off his face with a single hand, then running his hands through his hair, feathering it in his standard—wait, standard?

Standard would mean he normally did that. But who was he?

Finally asking himself that question, he realized why he had felt a sense of panic.

“Who…am I?” Asking himself this question, he made a passive, curious expression while trying to figure out what identity he held in this world, since he had absolutely no idea.

coded by benetnasch of SAO

[Midori]

[attr="class","polaris"] [attr="class","girtab"] [attr="class","gif"] [attr="class","backgroundsinister"] [attr="class","stardust"] [attr="class","lockedroom"] [attr="class","murasak"] How interesting. So it would seem that there was a few buildings just a little while outside the main city's gates. There had apparently been some commotion a little while outside the gates as some players appeared to be roleplaying as bandits attacking the village. At that same time, some blue-haired man and his mounted Guardian companion dropped by and drove the bandits away. It was nearly a comedic scene due to how quickly the skirmish happened and ended. In any case, Touko was pretty much just wandering the outskirts of the city for herself. She didn't really have any confirmation that this world was not a death-enabled game like many fantasy stories she had read a while before joining the game. Apparently there were a few people at Westminster Abbey who claimed to have been resurrected, but maybe their announcement was simply a ruse to cause others to drop their guard. She needed to treat it as though life could end at any moment. Conveniently, there happened to be some other man who seemed to be enjoying a nap while a monster was peeking out from the corner of a building. She moved her head in the monster's direction as though intending to click it like she would have in a PC game. A small menu detailing the monster's description was revealed. Level 2. Young Pittered Boar. Huh. Touko rather wondered why every single MMO in existence seemed to have pig-like monsters as one of the default enemies to fight. Really, it did make sense that they were rather linear monsters to fight, but it was odd why wild boars, a creature that was actually pretty tough and respectable in strength in the real world, was often delegated the newbie-friendly monster role in game. Luckily, many players wouldn't have to deal with fighting these animals in real life. That being said, the boar was slowly approaching the two players and she had no knowledge of whether it was an aggressive type or not. Usually stereotypical boar enemies were known to be rather jumpy and aggressive. She wondered whether to continue on in her journey, but the man had awoken at that very moment. And yet, rather than wake up like someone who had taken a light nap, he reacted to his environment as though he were Rip Van Winkle. Her eyes returned to the wild boar, which was now being accompanied by a second large Pittered Boar. Level 4 apparently. She wasn't sure how levels worked, but it was probably not a great idea to fight a monster 3 levels higher by oneself. By this time now, the blue-haired man who had loudly declared himself a Shepherd over at the building outskirt had apparently left a little while ago. This meant that the two of them right now were to be the only combatants if those monsters should happen to attack.  "Hello there, I'd like to comment that you're currently in an area where aggressive monsters can potentially spawn. Unless that's your plan to begin with." [attr="class","notesbg"] NOTES SKILLS WORDS CREDIT BY jumpstart! of btn and ote [attr="class","borderradius"] 皐月 冬子

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[Morgan]

Lost deep in thought, he could only wonder what was going on with him. Not focused on his surroundings at all, he was at a loss for his identity, as he didn’t even know his own name. So, why…what was going on? Why didn’t he know his name, even? Everyone knows their names, right? So, wh—

“Ahh!!”

He jumped slightly at the sudden voice. He had become so entranced in his own thoughts that the intrusion on his internal dilemma surprised him more than it should have. And, though he was surprised, it only took him until the end of the sentence to realize that he was being talked to. Him. Not anyone else.

“Ah—ahh…uhm,” he slowly turned his head about, looking for the person who’s voice that suddenly spoke belonged to. He turned it in the wrong way, not seeing anyone, and so he turned it the other way. He was pleasantly surprised to see a girl with dark hair and seemingly cobalt-colored eyes looking at him. Blinking a few times, he nervously said an introduction of his own.

“…uh, h-hey. Uh, yeah, hi.” He blinked a few more times, his pupils dilating as he got a better look at the raven-haired girl that was standing away from him. He let out a few breaths of discomfort that he had previously been holding back once he had first heard her, awkwardly trying to understand what she was saying.

“Er—what do you mean?” he turned his sitting body to a position where he was wholly facing her and leaned forward slightly, slumping his shoulders in the process. “Aggressive monsters? Spawn? This isn’t some fairy tale, is it? Eh…heh.

“And, uh…I find it difficult to think I had a plan at all. I just sort of…woke up here, just now.” He blinked again, in a curious manner. He didn’t really understand it, her words, and it made him interested. “Where did you see these ‘monsters,’ then?”

He rubbed a final smudge of dirt off of his face and put his palms on the ground, pushing himself up into a standing position. He didn’t like having to look up at her from such an angle, nor did he feel it appropriate to talk on such a different set of levels.

He continued to give her an awkward stare, beginning to rub the back of his neck. He felt like he had slept on a rock, now that he started to really feel his body through. However, as he stared at her and focused further—

“Uh, ah, wh-what. There’s a th-thing. A floating thing. Uh. I ask a lot of questions, don’t I? I guess that was another. Uhm, have any idea what this thing is? It says numbers that I don’t really understand.”

He removed his hand from his neck and moved the hair out of his eyes to get a better view. It said a few things he didn’t understand, more than a few things, actually.

“…Morgan…El vee 1. Equipment, Items, Quests, Skills…hm…”

Near the top right corner of this floating hologram, there was a picture of a passive-looking, white-haired guy who he guessed could only be himself. He narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brow at the sight of it, wondering what it all meant.

coded by benetnasch of SAO

[Midori]

[attr="class","polaris"] [attr="class","girtab"] [attr="class","gif"] [attr="class","backgroundsinister"] [attr="class","stardust"] [attr="class","lockedroom"] [attr="class","murasak"] Perhaps the one in front of her was not actually a player but an NPC. What were those people called again? People of the Earth or something. But this individual seemed to be wearing a similar style of armor as the Adventurers were. It seemed to be an ordinary-looking leather armor set, the kind that was given to the combat-based classes. She even checked the man's stats herself, finding that his class was apparently that of a Bard. However, neither a weapon nor a musical instrument seemed to be summoned at the moment. However, that wasn't her main concern. The person in front of her did not seem to be very knowledgeable of his current circumstance at all, as though he were still in shock around what had just happened to all the players. She could somewhat imagine why, but she hadn't heard of any player really waking up to find themselves in the game. It seemed more like a "download patch, create character, click server, boom you're in" sort of deal. Maybe it was something deeper. In any case, he was having trouble grasping the system mechanics in general. Perhaps it was partly because Touko had some experience with playing MMOs that she was able to adapt to the experience a little easier when the game suddenly became reality. On the other hand, perhaps her new companion here was new to the MMO experience altogether. Perhaps his actual identity was a child who had selected an avatar just fine, but wasn't able to comprehend just yet what had happened to him? She really wondered whether there were children trapped in this game. "You're in Elder Tale's Unfounded Kingdom. Your goal here, as with most of us, is to discover why you've been brought to this world and try to find a way back to the real world." She felt like a tutorial NPC, but maybe this sort of explanation would help the other player. "Let's start by equipping yourself first. Go back to where you saw the word Inventory. You should be able to see things to equip, which will cause them to appear in your hands." Touko performed the same tasks that she had just explained, opening up her inventory menu. It would appear that she also had a puppet and a katana in her inventory, besides the current grimoire that she was carrying in her hands. "To equip the items, just hold your finger over the item's icon and description, as though you were dragging icons with a mouse on a computer screen. Then move it to your avatar, which is the grey person-shaped figure on the side." Once again, she followed her own instructions by dragging the Control Bar and Puppet to her character equipment inventory. Within a moment later, a wooden control bar materialized in her free hand, its springs connected to a three-foot puppet that had just summoned itself at the same time. "Try it for yourself." Really, her first impression of this other player felt as though she were the NPC teaching a potential protagonist how to fight. [attr="class","notesbg"] NOTES SKILLS WORDS 515 CREDIT BY jumpstart! of btn and ote [attr="class","borderradius"] 皐月 冬子

[newclass=.polaris]width: 320px; background: #031103; padding: 10px 0px 10px 10px; border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px; height: 211px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px; -o-border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px; -ms-border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px;[/newclass][newclass=.backgroundsinister]width: 100px; background: #020b02; padding: 10px; border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; float: left; height: 211px; -moz-border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; -o-border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; -ms-border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; [/newclass][newclass=.borderradius]width: 430px; background: #121a13; padding: 10px; border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; float: left; font: 35px arial black; color: #3ace4d; text-align: center; line-height: 30px; letter-spacing: -2px; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -o-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -ms-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.borderradius:hover]width: 430px; background: #253827; padding: 10px; border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; float: left; font: 35px arial black; color: #0fbe1e; text-align: center; line-height: 30px; letter-spacing: -2px; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -o-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -ms-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s;[/newclass][newclass=.girtab]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O3Oy.jpg); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.5; -moz-opacity: 0.5; -o-opacity: 0.5; -ms-opacity: 0.5; filter:alpha(opacity=50); -moz-transition: 0.01s; -webkit-transition: 0.01s; -o-transition: 0.01s; [/newclass][newclass=.girtab:hover]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O41A.jpg); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 1; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.01s; -webkit-transition: 0.01s; -o-transition: 0.01s; [/newclass][newclass=.gif]background: url(http://i.imgur.com/9Gyjryo.gif); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.05; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.gif:hover]background: url(http://i.imgur.com/9Gyjryo.gif); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.75; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.stardust]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O3s3.png); width: 100px; height: 100px; border-radius: 20px; float: left; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.5; -moz-opacity: 0.5; -o-opacity: 0.5; -ms-opacity: 0.5; filter:alpha(opacity=50); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.stardust:hover]opacity: 1; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.lockedroom]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O3DG.png); width: 100px; height: 100px; border-radius: 20px; float: left; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.5; -moz-opacity: 0.5; -o-opacity: 0.5; -ms-opacity: 0.5; filter:alpha(opacity=50); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; margin-top: 90px; margin-left: -100px;[/newclass][newclass=.lockedroom:hover]opacity: 1; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.murasak]overflow: auto; float: left; background: black; padding: 10px; width: 310px; text-align: justify; font-size: 10px; color: #9cd8a4;[/newclass][newclass=.notesbg]background: #010501; padding: 10px; width: 100px; text-align: justify; font-size: 10px; color: #000000;[/newclass]

[Morgan]

The studious girl seemed to be content to assist him, for which he was very appreciative. After listening to her speech, he ended up a bit more confused and a bit more enlightened. Though he heard her words well, they took a bit of time to register in his head. He got most everything, even nodding in assent at her mentioning of the location, but the goal was what confused him.

His formerly bright face with a smile, a sign of his appreciation at her help, slowly shifted to a confused and furrowed one. He listened to her explanation of how to “equip items,” following her movements with his eyes as well as he could, but he crossed one of his arms to the other and began rubbing his bare chin with the other.

After she delegated the task of bringing out his own equipment, he let his eyes rest on hers for a moment. They seemed t o appear on cue when she did a few presses in the air, and were a somewhat curious pairing of an odd-looking rod and an even more odd-looking puppet that came up to about his waist in height. He opened his eyes a bit wider, nearly said something, but thought better of it before attempting to follow in her footsteps.

This sort of system felt familiar, it reminded him of something that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. After muttering out a few words of honest gratitude, he attempted to repeat the words she had said to him, his quieted voice a sign of how hard he was trying to think about what this “Inventory” reminded him of.

They frowned slightly, tapping the controls with their left, dominant hand.

“…Inventory…see things to equip…hm…”

He saw more than a couple items. He saw a sword, a musical instrument, and also a set of leather equipment that he supposed was what he was currently wearing. He most certainly didn’t want to “unequip” that armor, as it seemed to be the only thing he was wearing at the moment, most certainly not in front of this girl—who as of yet remained unnamed—so he kept his fingers far away from the “already equipped” item.

“Dragging it, you said? I, hm. It’ll just appear in your hands, then…alright.”

He was asking rhetorically of course, trying to get a sense of just how this system worked. Obviously she was knowledgeable—he’d likely stick around her to try and get better bearings of what happened to him, and why he was lying in this field. He decided through alphabetical order—he’d take the sword, a “Starter Claymore” as it was described. He had gotten over the shock of seeing things pop out in front of him, at least for this floating hologram, so he pressed his hand against the icon of a sword and gently moved the point of his finger from the bottom left corner of his reach to the top right, where he nearly let it equip.

“Hey, er,” he wanted to ask this as casually as he could, but it seemed he had already mucked it up. He let out a small sigh before letting his finger press down to “equip” this weapon. “What did you mean by ‘find a way back to the—oof.”

He fall to the ground, on his butt. The sudden attachment of a sword belt over his torso and the surprising weight of the metal weapon left his already lax self plummeting to the ground in a mire of his own dismay and confusion.

“...real world. Ah, oh well. I seem to just not be fit for this.” He said, another sigh escaping his lips before he looked back up at the girl. Feeling the necessity to stand up again, he let out a nervous chuckle and brushed off his back with one hand while also brushing the hair out of his eyes.

“Aheh, I seem to have a thing for the ground, don’t I? Er, anyhow…I…I equipped it. N-Now, uhm, what….well, could you answer my question first? What do you mean by ‘real world?’ I think this world is as…well, real as it gets. Is there something I’m missing here? You’ve lost me.”

Protagonist material or not, he was incredibly confused.

coded by benetnasch of SAO

[Midori]

[attr="class","polaris"] [attr="class","girtab"] [attr="class","gif"] [attr="class","backgroundsinister"] [attr="class","stardust"] [attr="class","lockedroom"] [attr="class","murasak"] A claymore was hardly the type of item that she would have expected a bard to use. Given its sheer size, it would have been very difficult to equip the sword along with a musical instrument, if not impossible. Regardless, he didn't seem to pull out the instrument, instead sticking with the large sword for now. "I would have figured that you would have a musical instrument as well. It says here that your class is Bard, which means that most of your powers will be in playing special types of music." However, that wasn't her real concern at the moment. She listened on to what he had to say and concluded that he must have had no idea what was going on at all. Normally most players would have reacted very strongly to hearing about a way to return to the real world, but he seemed to be perfectly oblivious of the circumstances. Perhaps he really was a Person of the Earth, despite the class title. After all, she checked a couple of other villagers at the time and indeed confirmed that their "class" was simply a Person of the Land title. Was it Land? It probably was Land. Whatever. There may have been specialized types who may have held special distinction and possessed the same class types as the Adventurers. The only way she would have found out for sure was to know if he revived at the Cathedral on death, but she wouldn't want to test that.  "How should I explain this?" Touko paused for a moment and brought up her Mabinogi experience as inspiration for explaining the situation. It actually was a fairly good metaphor for explaining their circumstances. "There are currently two types of people in this world. There are the People of the Land. They are regular people without any special talents other than to make a living and to enjoy their life. They live their lives, start families, and then spend their lives doing what's natural to them." Maybe not a completely accurate depiction but she'll go with it for now. "On the other hand, you have people called Adventurers. They suddenly appeared in this world all of a sudden, and many of them are trying to find a way back to the 'real world' they came, which is another world just like this one. Even though this one may feel just as real, it's like being far away from home for most of them. It just doesn't feel the same. Either way, the second special trait about the Adventurers... People say they can't die at all. Even if a monster kills them, even if they fall off a cliff, they come back to life as though they had the power to cheat death. Not much is known about this power, but I suspect it'll bring conflict between them and the People of the Land." She wondered whether either of those two designations rang a bell to the person before her. [attr="class","notesbg"] NOTES SKILLS WORDS 498 CREDIT BY jumpstart! of btn and ote [attr="class","borderradius"] 皐月 冬子

[newclass=.polaris]width: 320px; background: #031103; padding: 10px 0px 10px 10px; border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px; height: 211px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px; -o-border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px; -ms-border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px;[/newclass][newclass=.backgroundsinister]width: 100px; background: #020b02; padding: 10px; border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; float: left; height: 211px; -moz-border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; -o-border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; -ms-border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; [/newclass][newclass=.borderradius]width: 430px; background: #121a13; padding: 10px; border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; float: left; font: 35px arial black; color: #3ace4d; text-align: center; line-height: 30px; letter-spacing: -2px; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -o-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -ms-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.borderradius:hover]width: 430px; background: #253827; padding: 10px; border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; float: left; font: 35px arial black; color: #0fbe1e; text-align: center; line-height: 30px; letter-spacing: -2px; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -o-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -ms-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s;[/newclass][newclass=.girtab]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O3Oy.jpg); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.5; -moz-opacity: 0.5; -o-opacity: 0.5; -ms-opacity: 0.5; filter:alpha(opacity=50); -moz-transition: 0.01s; -webkit-transition: 0.01s; -o-transition: 0.01s; [/newclass][newclass=.girtab:hover]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O41A.jpg); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 1; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.01s; -webkit-transition: 0.01s; -o-transition: 0.01s; [/newclass][newclass=.gif]background: url(http://i.imgur.com/9Gyjryo.gif); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.05; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.gif:hover]background: url(http://i.imgur.com/9Gyjryo.gif); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.75; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.stardust]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O3s3.png); width: 100px; height: 100px; border-radius: 20px; float: left; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.5; -moz-opacity: 0.5; -o-opacity: 0.5; -ms-opacity: 0.5; filter:alpha(opacity=50); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.stardust:hover]opacity: 1; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.lockedroom]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O3DG.png); width: 100px; height: 100px; border-radius: 20px; float: left; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.5; -moz-opacity: 0.5; -o-opacity: 0.5; -ms-opacity: 0.5; filter:alpha(opacity=50); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; margin-top: 90px; margin-left: -100px;[/newclass][newclass=.lockedroom:hover]opacity: 1; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.murasak]overflow: auto; float: left; background: black; padding: 10px; width: 310px; text-align: justify; font-size: 10px; color: #9cd8a4;[/newclass][newclass=.notesbg]background: #010501; padding: 10px; width: 100px; text-align: justify; font-size: 10px; color: #000000;[/newclass]

[Morgan]

“Mmm, probably. I saw that I had something called a ‘starter lyre,’ but I didn’t get the time to, er, equip it before I…fell. Anyhow, er. It looked like an instrument, yeah, so I guess I could have used it if I wanted. Only chose this sword due to it being first, alphabetically.” He said, a bit embarrassed at how he had run along after trying to explain something so simple. Still, he tried to keep a calm demeanor at the situation, attempting another small smile at the girl who he had yet to learn the name of. Then again, he hadn’t told her his own yet, either, so perhaps he had to take the initiative before it became a mutual sort of thing—not that he could.

He still had no idea who he was. He didn’t know his name, how he got here, why he was here in the first place…he was puzzled entirely. He started to wonder if this was all just a dream, but he was clearly lucid, and this girl’s consciousness was a very vivid sign of that. She was really the only thing stopping him from lying down and going back to sleep.

He began to fiddle with the hair on the back of his head, wondering what next to say. For both their sakes, it seemed the girl was smart enough to have something to break the silence with, something he was quite glad for.

When she asked her question, he would have answered, but closed his mouth and retracted any answer he might have had before it even left him. It was a rhetoric; he didn’t realize that at first and let a frown express how he felt irritated at himself for having to rely on a stranger for his oddities.

Her words thoroughly confused him, perhaps even more than her previous ones did. As she explained on and on, he slowly narrowed his eyes in disbelief, not really “getting” what she was saying. Two types of people? Was she some sort of racist? A small, cheeky grin flared on his face and immediately stifled—though that thought of this girl’s mindset was quite comedic, he didn’t want to disrespect her at all, as she seemed to be doing her best to help him.

Anyhow, her words seemed to make more sense as her speech ended. She wasn’t some sort of racist, just a lot more clear-headed than him. He was feeling quite jaded right now, despite the fact that he had woken up not too long ago, from what seemed like a really good dream.

He seemed to have stopped looking at her as he listened, focusing on the waving grass in the distance as he gave it all some thought. As he felt some sort of expectancy coming off of the last few lines of her words, he couldn’t help but turn his eyes back to her and feel regretful about his incoming answer, showing this with a sigh and downward-cast gaze.

“…I…I don’t know. I’m sorry. I don’t know about this ‘real world,’ so I don’t feel an urge to go back, but…I…I guess I can relate to those People of the Land more, then…I, just…ahh,” he said quietly. For some reason, he felt really bad, like something was incredibly wrong. He felt like getting away from this girl for a while just so he could try and solve the mystery of himself first, before answering any questions.

After all, being asked who you were when you had no answer, moreover, being asked it by someone you don’t want to disappoint, really leaves someone in a desperate state.

“I…guess I must just be a Person of the Land, then…” he said, out of necessity for a proper, assured answer.

Lowering his head a bit, his eyes caught on something. His eyes glinted for a second, in the light, flashing brightly as if he had had some sort of epiphany.

“I…! I do know one thing, though!” He said, a sudden wave of confidence and joy rushing over him. “My name…I’m Morgan. Nice to meet you.”

coded by benetnasch of SAO

[Midori]

[attr="class","polaris"] [attr="class","girtab"] [attr="class","gif"] [attr="class","backgroundsinister"] [attr="class","stardust"] [attr="class","lockedroom"] [attr="class","murasak"] Well, at least he was a Person of the Land. That seemed to explain why his behavior was a bit different from that of most players who were running like chickens without their heads (an odd idiom, for they wouldn't be running at all). She did have the slight suspicion that he might actually have been lying to her, if that strange and sudden laugh had been any indication. The mere impression of amnesia was a rather dubious state to begin with, although Touko didn't have a clear idea of whether he was just confused or had lost some of his memories. At least the possibility that he was actually a legendary warrior of ages past was out of the question. The interface did display his level as 1. Regardless, it wasn't very much to think over. Either way, the boy quickly seemed to perk up after he had seemed to realize a bit about his identity. "My name's Midori." She made a light bow for her introduction, then quickly changed her stance. She raised her right hand and made a gesture similar to a hand counting three, then made a bit of a dramatic salute as the hand passed across the front of her face. It was the Kiraboshi salute that she used to identify herself with Mana, Jack, and Hiro. "I'm an Adventurer!" And then as quickly as she made the gesture, she returned back to her previous stance. "But generally I don't really feel like much of an Adventurer because all I've been doing is staying close to the city." She eyed the monster spawn that had been situated a short distance away from the sleeping bard a moment ago. There were still two wild boars standing there, as though watching their movements. "Will you require an explanation of the combat system, or is this sufficient?" [attr="class","notesbg"] NOTES SKILLS WORDS 308 CREDIT BY jumpstart! of btn and ote [attr="class","borderradius"] 皐月 冬子

[newclass=.polaris]width: 320px; background: #031103; padding: 10px 0px 10px 10px; border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px; height: 211px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px; -o-border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px; -ms-border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px;[/newclass][newclass=.backgroundsinister]width: 100px; background: #020b02; padding: 10px; border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; float: left; height: 211px; -moz-border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; -o-border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; -ms-border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; [/newclass][newclass=.borderradius]width: 430px; background: #121a13; padding: 10px; border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; float: left; font: 35px arial black; color: #3ace4d; text-align: center; line-height: 30px; letter-spacing: -2px; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -o-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -ms-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.borderradius:hover]width: 430px; background: #253827; padding: 10px; border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; float: left; font: 35px arial black; color: #0fbe1e; text-align: center; line-height: 30px; letter-spacing: -2px; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -o-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -ms-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s;[/newclass][newclass=.girtab]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O3Oy.jpg); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.5; -moz-opacity: 0.5; -o-opacity: 0.5; -ms-opacity: 0.5; filter:alpha(opacity=50); -moz-transition: 0.01s; -webkit-transition: 0.01s; -o-transition: 0.01s; [/newclass][newclass=.girtab:hover]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O41A.jpg); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 1; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.01s; -webkit-transition: 0.01s; -o-transition: 0.01s; [/newclass][newclass=.gif]background: url(http://i.imgur.com/9Gyjryo.gif); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.05; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.gif:hover]background: url(http://i.imgur.com/9Gyjryo.gif); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.75; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.stardust]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O3s3.png); width: 100px; height: 100px; border-radius: 20px; float: left; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.5; -moz-opacity: 0.5; -o-opacity: 0.5; -ms-opacity: 0.5; filter:alpha(opacity=50); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.stardust:hover]opacity: 1; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.lockedroom]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O3DG.png); width: 100px; height: 100px; border-radius: 20px; float: left; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.5; -moz-opacity: 0.5; -o-opacity: 0.5; -ms-opacity: 0.5; filter:alpha(opacity=50); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; margin-top: 90px; margin-left: -100px;[/newclass][newclass=.lockedroom:hover]opacity: 1; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.murasak]overflow: auto; float: left; background: black; padding: 10px; width: 310px; text-align: justify; font-size: 10px; color: #9cd8a4;[/newclass][newclass=.notesbg]background: #010501; padding: 10px; width: 100px; text-align: justify; font-size: 10px; color: #000000;[/newclass]

[Morgan]

Midori; her name. He was quite glad to hear it. Obviously she was someone way more responsible than him and who actually knew what they were doing here. He would probably stick around with her for a while after this. If she didn’t mind, that was. After all, he’d probably just go back to sleeping in the field if she wasn’t here, interacting wi—

“Wh—?”

Okay, that was a surprise. She performed an action that seemed completely out of the blue. It seemed to be a practiced, calculated pose, and definitely something unique, but even so, due to the randomness of it, it was all he could do to stifle his laughter by making a small, forced-down grin. She could probably hear him chuckling through his nose.

Moreover, the “I’m an adventurer!” that followed it up was a trial he nearly did not overcome. The seemingly-soft-spoken girl was full of surprises this turn around. He stifled some more laughter before taking a deep breath. After hearing her latter words, he couldn’t help but wonder what was going on with these Adventurers.

He was quite sure of his past now. He was just your average, everyday wandering Bard-classed Person of the Land, passing from town to town to help entertain people, only to end up sleeping in a nice field during the chilly morning and resting as much as he could, due to tiredness. This history—he wholly believed in it.

She seemed to be focused on something else around him that he couldn’t really see. He tilted his head in curiosity before hearing words that shocked him slightly. He blinked in awe a few times before finally stammering out a few words.

“C-Combat? Wh-what do you mean? Why would we need to fight anyone?” he said, blinking at the girl. “I-I don’t know about you, but I’d much prefer to just, here, let me fix this so I can say this right.”

He pulled the leather belt off of his back, and looked at the weapon. It was heavy enough to definitely cause some damage, but it was of manageable weight for someone looking to wield it. Sadly, though, he wasn’t for it.

Doing a double take of his surroundings, he looked at Midori, shrugged, and threw it somewhere behind him (he thought he heard something squeal in anger). He then unequipped it from his inventory screen, doing it in the same careful manner as before. He tried to mimic the girl’s precise movements, but he ended up slacking, and being slow.

Replacing the claymore with the lyre, he was happy to see the item plop healthily in his hands, the dull-colored wood looking like fine sheen to him.

“As I was saying, I’d much rather play this lyy—OOF!”

He would probably never finish that sentence, ever. Before he was able to complete his speech, he was tackled from behind by some unknown force. It was brown and somewhat hairy, but that was all he saw before being trampled into the ground by it.

He felt the hooves dig into his weakly-armored back, committing a charge of hit-and-run as he heard the force continue to sweep forward, disappearing out of his earshot.

Coughing and sputtering out a few bits of blood, he made a pathetic, still-embarrassed expression, and comically said to Midori.

“I’ll take that combat lesson now, please.”

coded by benetnasch of SAO

[Midori]

[attr="class","polaris"] [attr="class","girtab"] [attr="class","gif"] [attr="class","backgroundsinister"] [attr="class","stardust"] [attr="class","lockedroom"] [attr="class","murasak"] People either laughed or grimaced when they saw her use the gesture in public, and even then she hadn't been doing a full Kiraboshi. It really wasn't full Kiraboshi unless you actually shouted the phrase, which was out of context here since the other party would have no idea what Kiraboshi was. Either way, he did seem to be laughing, if not stifling his inner desire to laugh. Well, at the very least, she had cleared up the slightly unsettling atmosphere from having to explain their situation. It would have been hard to really explain what her world could have been, mainly because her world just wasn't that exciting in the first place. It was all about continuing to meet your goals, even when you had no clear idea of what your goals were supposed to be. Regardless, not even the topic of battle would have motivated her to fight. Guess he wasn't cut out to be the hot-blooded type then. Either way, when he tossed the belt to perform some practicing with his instrument, the object just happened to strike the head of the Level 2 boar. Maybe he should have specialized in throwing weapons with this kind of freak accuracy. But before Touko was able to explain what he had just done, the boar had quickly slammed him to the ground, then turned tail and ran away. She desummoned the puppet and brought out the Grimoire instead, just in case she would need to lend a hand. At this current instance in time, her main level was 4. Her first skill had been Psychic Conductor, followed by Frost Spear which was gained a little while ago from a level up. It turned out that leveling at low levels was very easy in this world, a common convention that at least made it more reassuring that it was possible to take on any challenges along the way. However, it was probably a little unnecessary for her to help against the Level 2 monster. Morgan could probably handle it on his own. The Level 4 boar, however, was fair game for her. "I can't really say what kinds of skills you have as a bard, but you should probably go back to the menu and check out your skills." At the same moment, she was charging some magic of her own, the book's pages flapping in a small wind current caused by her spell activation. There were now two ways to perform a skill. The first method was that extremely cumbersome method of manually targeting an enemy and then manually selecting the skill to use, directly from the menu. It was probably a better choice when performing some skill that didn't really need any targeting animations, such as a self-targeting skill. He'd have to learn it sometime or another, but there was another option that just made intuitively more sense. "Click on one of the skills and take a look at how the person in the diagram is performing the skill. It should be an animation. Then just copy the stance and imagine that you are that character and you're ready to perform your skill." Knowing a Bard though, it's probably going to be a support-type skill. Regardless, the effect of the song magic should have helped him to defeat the monster. At this moment, a large ice crystal was forming in mid-air about a foot above her right shoulder. It was time to see what this thing could do. She launched the ice spear at the Level 4 boar, encasing it in an ice for a split second as an animation, before bursting to damage the mob. The monster let out a high-pitched sound and was pushed a few inches back, resulting in a 20% HP drop. Its legs were also encased in ice as a status effect signifying that it had been slowed. This could have been better, but it was a support skill anyway. [attr="class","notesbg"] NOTES SKILLS WORDS 651 CREDIT BY jumpstart! of btn and ote [attr="class","borderradius"] 皐月 冬子

[newclass=.polaris]width: 320px; background: #031103; padding: 10px 0px 10px 10px; border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px; height: 211px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px; -o-border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px; -ms-border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px;[/newclass][newclass=.backgroundsinister]width: 100px; background: #020b02; padding: 10px; border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; float: left; height: 211px; -moz-border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; -o-border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; -ms-border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; [/newclass][newclass=.borderradius]width: 430px; background: #121a13; padding: 10px; border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; float: left; font: 35px arial black; color: #3ace4d; text-align: center; line-height: 30px; letter-spacing: -2px; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -o-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -ms-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.borderradius:hover]width: 430px; background: #253827; padding: 10px; border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; float: left; font: 35px arial black; color: #0fbe1e; text-align: center; line-height: 30px; letter-spacing: -2px; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -o-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -ms-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s;[/newclass][newclass=.girtab]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O3Oy.jpg); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.5; -moz-opacity: 0.5; -o-opacity: 0.5; -ms-opacity: 0.5; filter:alpha(opacity=50); -moz-transition: 0.01s; -webkit-transition: 0.01s; -o-transition: 0.01s; [/newclass][newclass=.girtab:hover]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O41A.jpg); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 1; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.01s; -webkit-transition: 0.01s; -o-transition: 0.01s; [/newclass][newclass=.gif]background: url(http://i.imgur.com/9Gyjryo.gif); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.05; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.gif:hover]background: url(http://i.imgur.com/9Gyjryo.gif); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.75; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.stardust]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O3s3.png); width: 100px; height: 100px; border-radius: 20px; float: left; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.5; -moz-opacity: 0.5; -o-opacity: 0.5; -ms-opacity: 0.5; filter:alpha(opacity=50); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.stardust:hover]opacity: 1; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.lockedroom]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O3DG.png); width: 100px; height: 100px; border-radius: 20px; float: left; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.5; -moz-opacity: 0.5; -o-opacity: 0.5; -ms-opacity: 0.5; filter:alpha(opacity=50); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; margin-top: 90px; margin-left: -100px;[/newclass][newclass=.lockedroom:hover]opacity: 1; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.murasak]overflow: auto; float: left; background: black; padding: 10px; width: 310px; text-align: justify; font-size: 10px; color: #9cd8a4;[/newclass][newclass=.notesbg]background: #010501; padding: 10px; width: 100px; text-align: justify; font-size: 10px; color: #000000;[/newclass]

[Morgan]

As Midori offered up a suggestion to his crumpled person, he put his hands on the ground and pushed himself up, his back feeling incredibly sore. He groaned out a few murmurs of pain, but eventually he was back on his feet, looking at the knowledgeable girl with a somewhat dirty face. It seemed that all his former efforts to get dirt off of his face were in vain. Oh, well. Nothing for it but to follow her advice, now.

“Ow, ow…alright, uhm, skills! You said that, right? Sorry, I think that thing kicked be in the head, too, ack,” he said to her, grabbing the lyre off of the ground. The rectangular-shaped piece of wood had guts stringed on it, and seemed pretty durable, despite being quite cheap. He lightly plucked a string to find that it played a high note. Suddenly, her advice rang clear in his head again.

“Alright, uhm, skills…uhh…then, then…a-animation, er, then…uhh…alright, then…okay, he’s…he’s…I can’t see what he’s doing, agh!” he nervously stammered out.

Her words were true enough; he clicked “Skills” and then clicked on the first one he saw, something called “Maestro Echo”—whatever that meant—and watched as a simplistic representation of a human pulled out an instrument from their back and…plucked strings on it. He saw them doing that clearly. However, the main problem was—

“I don’t know how to play music! How in the name of the…the…LAND! Am I supposed to do this!?”

He panicked, not knowing what to do as the level 2 boar turned about on its dash and faced him once again. He—this boar—they were mortal enemies. All their lives had been coming to this—but it seemed the boar had an upper hand over the amnesiac’s lack of ability.

“Ah, screw it, I don’t have the time for this…just work, you…ly…re…thing…!”

He pressed the instrument against his torso, tucking the lower end of it over his right forearm. He held the top parts with his left arm whilst positioning his hands in the seemingly correct places for this “Maestro Echo”—which, the effects of, he was still unaware of.

Still, he was now devoted to trying to help assist this girl who helped him out. Even if he didn’t know how to do it, he would still do it. He firmly believed in this at the moment.

“…Uh…here goes!”

He slammed his arm down, rapidly striking the notes of the instrument four times in succession. The high-pitched harmonics sounded a bit too loud and guitar-esque for such a small instrument, but it all work of the system.

Lights like something off of a rock concert stage—though he wouldn’t know that—flared up behind him and cast a bright, magical look off of him. He did it! He achieved working the magics! Now all he had to do was get an understanding of what the Land he just did.

“Uhh…uhm, okay, so…’For a 30 second duration, copies the magical attacks of a designated ally against the same target.’…what does that eve—oh, there’s an icicle above my head. Great! GREAT! Okay, uhh, fire! Shoot! Magic! Bolt! There, th-the pig! Boar, rather.”

He looked upwards to see that there was a ruddy, rough-looking chunk of ice floating above his head. Fan-Landing-tastic that was. However, he didn’t know how to fire it. He waved over his head, going from his cranium to pointing at the boar that was running at him, making him look like some sort of child with a fake magic wand.

“Gah, move, darn—“

As he said that, the ice flew. But not at his prospective target, no. At the boar behind him, which his friend Midori was handling. He continued to look forward, however, with an outstretched hand, blinking a bit. After bemusedly turning around, he saw the ice fly into his friend’s opponent, knocking them down some, and further slowing them.

“—It? …Land yeah! I did it!” he exclaimed to Midori, proud of his achievement. He pumped his right fist lightly, then asked a few questions. “…Er, now, how do I tell what I did, heh?”

He pointed at the level 4 boar, with his right hand, aiming exactly at the minute point of its cranium. A thin beam of light shot out from his pointer finger, like a ray of pale electricity. It left his finger, which was pulled upwards and close to his face from sheer shock (hah) and the ray of light—which was about three feet long and moved at a very fast rate through the air—struck the skull of the pig, got reflected back at Morgan’s finger, and flew into its original place.

“Uh…uhm, M-Midori! I am…I am seeing things. I-Is that bad? Apparently this thing is really weak to this one thing and really resistant to another, and, uhm, we’ve got it down to around…uhm…sixty-seven percent of its health, I believe is the correct term, yes. Er, a-am I doing something wrong?” he asked in a panicked voice while giving her an embarrassed, nervous smile.

coded by benetnasch of SAO

[Midori]

[attr="class","polaris"] [attr="class","girtab"] [attr="class","gif"] [attr="class","backgroundsinister"] [attr="class","stardust"] [attr="class","lockedroom"] [attr="class","murasak"] The boar, with its hind legs covered in ice, had some trouble trying to reach her position. As a Sorcerer, she wouldn't have been able to take hits very well, so even if it had a status effect, she needed to keep her distance. Since the monster was unable to charge straight for her, Touko put away the control bar and attached it to the side of her cloth armor, then used some nearby obstacles for cover. As the boar moved toward her, she kited its direction straight toward a tree and caused it to turn in order to keep its position. In any case, she was somewhat surprised when an second ice bolt struck the monster. Was there another Sorcerer in the area trying to kill steal? She spun her head in the direction of the newcomer spell and saw Morgan standing there, half-confused over what had just happened. Her eyes returned to the boar, seeing that its HP had fallen to about 70%. Apparently a level 1 non-mage class dealt over half the damage that a level 4 Sorcerer did to a level 4 boar. "Well, let me just guess that bards have some sort of copy skill and that it's apparently quite effective even when used by someone who shouldn't be very good at magic attacks." Touko muttered these comments to herself. She almost wished she could have been a bard just to grab that ability. In fact, what was that ability? Her thoughts were interrupted as another light beam struck the boar. This particular action did not seem to be an attack, since it didn't generate any aggro or apparent damage and status effects. However, the words that came from Morgan's mouth afterward suggested that it was some sort of scanning ability. If he was able to see its resistances and weaknesses (was a low-level boar really resistant to anything?), then he must have had access to some sort of ability that let him see more detailed information about the monster. "First of all, what skills did you use just now? The one that shot an identical ice spear and the light beam just a moment ago?" After all, she would need to document this information for herself so that Jack and the others would be able to compile the data together. "And what attacks is the boar resistant and weak to? If you have any skill that can hit a weakness, it'll take out a lot of HP." Regardless, he had chosen to attack the Level 4 boar, so she needed to make sure that she held the aggro for now. Touko used her puppet's skill at this time, regrouping back to where her wooden doll lay lifelessly on the ground. There was a particular skill that was unlocked by taking the Puppeteer class, and it would have been fairly effective in this situation. Since the boar's height was roughly similar to the puppet's current size, it was moreso effective. Touko gripped the control bar that was dangling from her clothes and handled it so that the puppet stood up in its spot. The boar was about to reach the puppet's position, its attention still focused on her. At that moment, she jerked the control bar to the side as though reeling in a fish using a fishing rod. Her hand made a flash as the light traveled from her hand to the puppet's figue, then the wooden puppet tackled the monster at that moment. This skill was called Act 1, and it was able to hold a mobile monster in place for a few moments. This time lag gave the girl all she needed in order to channel her second spell. Her eyes looked around for a loose object to use, finally settling on a wooden stake that was knocked down from a part of a fence. She held her hand forward in the direction of the stake, causing it to levitate for that moment. However, unlike the other times Touko had used this skill, she felt a bit of an interference for some reason. It wasn't really following her orders as fluidly as usual, as though wobbling between two different forces. Maybe the effect of Morgan's previous skill was still active somehow. Regardless, she raised the wooden stake and hovered it above the boar's body. Then, before the plank's trajectory could be thrown off-center, the Sorcerer dropped the stake down upon the beast's body, apparently skewering it through its side. There was a bit of resistance as the stake was being forced out of the monster's body, but it regardless knocked the creature's HP down fairly drastically. There was about a 5% drop every second. With the puppet holding the monster in place, the HP gradually dropped increasingly lower until the creature just finally broke away from the puppet's grip altogether. At this moment, it had also escaped the stake controlled by Psychic Conductor as well. But it was fading quickly. There was only 10% of its HP remaining at this moment. Touko placed the control bar back to her clothing as she held the magic grimoire in her right hand. Then, with her now-free left hand, she pointed forward at the approaching beast and shot an beam of concentrated mana in its direction. It only let out a single weak scream as its body faded away and turned into a small pile of gold and assorted drops. No matter how many times she would see it, such an animation rather looked pretty ridiculous. Regardless, it wasn't over yet. The level 2 boar was still alive and had full HP, so she would decide to see how Morgan would dispatch of it. [attr="class","notesbg"] NOTES SKILLS WORDS 940 CREDIT BY jumpstart! of btn and ote [attr="class","borderradius"] 皐月 冬子

[newclass=.polaris]width: 320px; background: #031103; padding: 10px 0px 10px 10px; border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px; height: 211px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px; -o-border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px; -ms-border-radius: 30px 0px 0px 0px;[/newclass][newclass=.backgroundsinister]width: 100px; background: #020b02; padding: 10px; border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; float: left; height: 211px; -moz-border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; -o-border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; -ms-border-radius: 0px 30px 0px 0px; [/newclass][newclass=.borderradius]width: 430px; background: #121a13; padding: 10px; border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; float: left; font: 35px arial black; color: #3ace4d; text-align: center; line-height: 30px; letter-spacing: -2px; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -o-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -ms-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.borderradius:hover]width: 430px; background: #253827; padding: 10px; border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; float: left; font: 35px arial black; color: #0fbe1e; text-align: center; line-height: 30px; letter-spacing: -2px; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -o-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -ms-border-radius: 0px 0px 30px 30px; -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s;[/newclass][newclass=.girtab]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O3Oy.jpg); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.5; -moz-opacity: 0.5; -o-opacity: 0.5; -ms-opacity: 0.5; filter:alpha(opacity=50); -moz-transition: 0.01s; -webkit-transition: 0.01s; -o-transition: 0.01s; [/newclass][newclass=.girtab:hover]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O41A.jpg); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 1; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.01s; -webkit-transition: 0.01s; -o-transition: 0.01s; [/newclass][newclass=.gif]background: url(http://i.imgur.com/9Gyjryo.gif); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.05; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.gif:hover]background: url(http://i.imgur.com/9Gyjryo.gif); width: 320px; height: 205px; border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; -ms-border-radius: 30px; -o-border-radius: 30px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.75; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.stardust]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O3s3.png); width: 100px; height: 100px; border-radius: 20px; float: left; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.5; -moz-opacity: 0.5; -o-opacity: 0.5; -ms-opacity: 0.5; filter:alpha(opacity=50); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.stardust:hover]opacity: 1; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.lockedroom]background: url(http://puu.sh/5O3DG.png); width: 100px; height: 100px; border-radius: 20px; float: left; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.5; -moz-opacity: 0.5; -o-opacity: 0.5; -ms-opacity: 0.5; filter:alpha(opacity=50); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; margin-top: 90px; margin-left: -100px;[/newclass][newclass=.lockedroom:hover]opacity: 1; -moz-opacity: 1; -o-opacity: 1; -ms-opacity: 1; filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-transition: 0.7s; -webkit-transition: 0.7s; -o-transition: 0.7s; [/newclass][newclass=.murasak]overflow: auto; float: left; background: black; padding: 10px; width: 310px; text-align: justify; font-size: 10px; color: #9cd8a4;[/newclass][newclass=.notesbg]background: #010501; padding: 10px; width: 100px; text-align: justify; font-size: 10px; color: #000000;[/newclass]

[Morgan]

“I-I don’t know! It was the only—er—‘skill’ that I had available, and the first I chose to use because…it was the first I saw, I don’t know! Er, apparently it’s called ‘Maestro Echo,’ and, uhm, is used to copy any magical attacks from an ally onto the same target! Er—is that a good enough description of it? I’m just sort of reading it out to you now…

“And, uhh…um, that second one’s a separate skilled, called ‘Evaluate,’ it’s apparently for the, er, ‘Scholar’ sub-class and…and, uh, allows ‘the scholar to obtain an additional interface when this skill is used. It has a one second cast time and one second cool-down time. The target's elemental weaknesses and a brief summary of their skills will be made available to the Scholar any time they access the target's interface.’ I must have studied this somewhere.

“Er—uhm. Weaknesses, let me check…” he said all of this quite rapidly, being somewhat nervous and panicked in this sudden combat situation. He realized that he had been looking at her expectantly for quite a while, not actually following up on his words. Sighing, he tore his eyes of off Midori, who was currently engaging the boar with coolness and readiness that only made him realize how much of a fool he was acting like currently. He moved his eyes over to the floating holograms that showed more information than he could understand.

After rechecking the interface that he had gained when he used that skill—‘Evaluate,’ was it?—he realized he had misread. Half-sighing and half-groaning, he glanced at Midori out of the corner of his eye and yelled, “Never mind, it isn’t weak to anything; I misread, sorry!” He then frowned in annoyance with himself. She was being a major help to him and all he was doing was being a pest. He guessed that he had to take things into his own hands now, and so he tried.

“Okay, apparently I can make things move, now that I’ve used that skill, now…to find something that I can…move…hm…Oh, there! That’s a moveable object, right…?”

He just so happened to glance at the very same thing Midori was looking at, that broken down fence item. Grinning with fervor, he then point his opened palm at it, and like some phony magician, tried to get a ‘feel’ for it and grab it with his mind. It moved! It moved, because of him!

The closest enemy to him was that level 2 swine, so all he had to do was whack it around with the broken-off piece of fencing and—

“Eh—?”

—It wasn’t moving. At least, in the direction of the enemy he wanted to attack, which was a bad thing honestly. It was going the opposite way he wanted! What a predicament. The swine was getting ready to attack him once again, and yet the pull on the object in the air was far too much for him. Like a rubber band being strained to the limit, his hold on it snapped and it flew at the opposite direction he wanted.

He didn’t know why it wouldn’t work. In reality, he and Midori were tugging on the same thing, so it was obvious that there would be some resistance. As for why it flew off after a few seconds, well, he lost all of his MP, which he did not notice at all. Sighing, he saw out of the corner of his eye that his weapon—the claymore—was sitting under his feet, glittering dully in the light, its metal making him realize its use once more. Blinking in surprise was all he could do before—

“H-Huh!?”

—He was quite surprised, stunned in fact, to see that he was encased in a bright golden glow, encompassing his entire form for just a few seconds. A shiny prompt appeared in front of him, somewhat shocking him further—he still had not gotten used to the crazed, random appearances of these holograms—saying something about ‘leveling up.’

“M-Midori!? I’m apparently leveling up! I am getting ay-pee!! What is that; is it bad!? Am I dying!?”

From an outsider’s perspective—he was completely and quite hilariously hopeless. But from his own point of view, he had no idea what was going on—having been thrust without warning into this situation of which he knew nothing of. He really wished that everything could just temporarily be paused and then everything would be swell, Midori could explain everything to him and then—

“Oh—you killed it. You killed it! You killed it? Er, good job, Midori! Hehe,” he said happily, realizing where the source of this ‘leveling up’ came from. As they had apparently both damaged the same enemy, they both received some sort of item or value that increased their skills. He guessed this for no real reason in particular, save for the fact that the option to choose two extra skills for his ‘Bard’ class popped up in front of him.

Blinking, he called out “Midori!” before quieting himself and giving into thought. No, he—should definitely stop relying on her. It was better to try something out on his own first. He somehow knew he’d learn better that way. “N-Never mind, heh!” he quickly refuted, attempting to stop asking her for help.

He turned back to the area in front of him and glared at the menu, blinking several times before realizing what two skills he wanted—no—needed the most at the moment. He let his mind take himself over for the first time, rapidly reading each and every skill summary as quickly as he could. Skimming over each one took about two seconds, but due to the fluff that was put into each description, it took three for each. Reaching two near the end—he found some that he liked a lot, personally.

He smashed his finger against the prompts, picking ‘Resonance Beat’ and ‘Speed Sword Etude’ in quick succession, and then reached down to grab the claymore he had left on the floor. Pulling it over his back again, he put the lyre into its proper position and watched the animation for the ‘Resonance Beat’ skill.

“Here goes…” he said, hoping he wouldn’t make a fool of himself (again) in front of Midori.

He slammed his fingers against the strings once more, tweaking them in various, repetitive ways, each strike making a loud note thunder in the air. Meanwhile, sparks flew out of the ground, and struck his sword like lightning, encasing it in a thundery-glow. The quick ballad ended in a flash, spraying out sparks like a short-circuiting board.

Blinking, he pulled the lyre onto a hook near his belt, and then gripped the handle of the large weapon on his back. It felt like he was pulling on an electric eel, but it didn’t matter to much. Though, the vibrations from within the weapon made it somewhat difficult to unsheathe the already-large sword, he did it in the nick of time.

“Alright!” he exclaimed in an eager voice. He didn’t honestly want to hurt any of the wildlife, but he supposed it couldn’t be helped. After all, they attacked him first, and Midori seemed eager to fight in any case. He took a deep breath and stepped forward.

He was glad for the level up refilling his health and mana bars—that’s what they were apparently called, he surmised. Otherwise, with his MP drained from the use of Maestro Echo formerly, he might not have been able to properly perform the skill he just did.

In any case, the pig started charging him. Giving a glance back at Midori, grinning, then turning back, Morgan faced the enemy with a ready look on his face.

“You’re finished!”

Lightning flashed behind him as he stepped forward to meet his enemy, creating somewhat of a purple-lighted cut in, if one looked at him at the right angle. He stepped forward just at the right moment to jump at the rampaging creature and strike it with a downwards, crushing slash, making a loud boom of thunder sound as he did so.

The pig was shocked—literally—and Morgan ran behind it to keep himself from stumbling in the tall grass. He turned and glared at the thing, swishing the weapon from a low position in front of him to a tall, straight one at his side.

He then jumped again, grunting slightly as he did so, and slashed the pig in half, making it fall to the ground and shiver slightly as his sword let out a final blast of thunder, the electricity around the weapon fading continually now that its move was over. Morgan blinked and watched as the pig’s HP drained from somewhere below fifty percent to null.

And then it exploded into coins and all that sort of things. For him, who had never seen death before, this was completely laughable and comical. He started chuckling, forcing down raucous laughter, since he didn’t want to look a fool in front of his friend…speaking of—

“H-Hey, Midori! I did it! Er, uhm, I mean. Ahem. Hey. Are we all done here, now?” he said loudly, then got a bit more calm and quiet as he sheathed his sword and walked over towards her. He gave her a small smile and then went back to the passive expression he normally wore before all of what just happened.

Feeling a bit awkward, he said, “W-Well, that was, uh…interesting? It was certainly a new sort of experience, yeah…hm. You…wanted to know what I have at my disposal, skill-wise? Er, I guess, now that there’re no enemies in sight, we could probably sit down and get all the info we can. I apparently have items to write and log things, since that’s apparently a sub-class of mine…uhm, yeah. Let’s do that then, shall we?”

He said that all quite quickly, feeling a bit heated from what he had just experienced. He looked around and found a nice set of white boulders to sit down on, just enough so that he and Midori could probably get all the info they could out of him. He pointed to it—it was only a few meters away from their current position—and he walked over to it quickly, taking a seat on one of the more flat ones. He then pulled out a few sheets of parchment, an ink pot and a quill, setting them on the flattest parts of the makeshift-chair.

He waited for Midori to come over and see what they could do.

coded by benetnasch of SAO