A Bard is being taught by a Swashbuckler? [Mentor/Closed]

[Steel]

“I wonder what to do today?” Steel asked himself as he walked the streets of Londonium. Probably because he went out hunting countless mobs every day for 2 weeks straights, doing that for about 12 hours each day. Not to mention, he was always doing it by himself. It was no wonder the mental exhaustion was starting to catch up to him. And for that reason, Steel decided that a change of pace for a day or two was necessary. In fact, he was wondering why he hunted that long in the first place. It was then he realized he didn't have many friends to go on adventures with all the time. "Well, hopefully nothing will go wrong today although god knows how many times I’ve said that and it doesn’t happen." He whispered to himself, remembering all the other times he said this, wondering if he’s jinxed himself already. Right after he said that, he had bumped into someone. When he turned to see who it was, it was a girl and there was a guy that Steel found familiar that was right next to her, presumably her date for the day. "You okay there?" He asked the girl he bumped into as he offered a hand to help her up. As that happened, romantic sparkles came from and put the girl in a slight love sick like trance. This did not go unnoticed by the guy who was her boyfriend and that guy became irritated at Steel. Wait a minute… He began to think in a slight panic.

"What do you think you're doing, hitting on my girl?" The guy said as he got a hold of Steel's collar. It seemed he didn't know about the Courtesan ability or it's just that he was pissed that his date became like that. Not that his rage was completely unreasonable. The guy looked a bit more closely at Steel. "Oh heck no! It’s you again you *******!! How many times do we have to run into each other like this!?!" He exclaimed even more angrily. It was indeed the guy Steel first pissed off back in Stratford and then again later at a different town during the Coconia festival as well as last week. Oh come on!! Give me a break! Steel exclaimed in his mind he was seriously getting sick of this guy.

“Hey, it’s not like I like this sort of situation either!” Steel exclaimed in an annoyed tone. He didn't want to get into a conflict and he knew this wasn't going to get any better from here. He hurriedly turned the skill off, snapping the girl out of her little trance. I hate how this skill acts like a running gag!! Steel exclaimed in his mind before using martial arts to escape his captor's grip and jumped back.

"Sorry about that again!" Steel exclaimed before running off. He hoped that he wouldn't be chased by that guy although he probably would like he did the last two times. This day was already off to a bad start and the Half Alv Swashbuckler hoped that this day wouldn't get any worse. Oh who was he kidding? Steel already knew what was going to happen next.

A few minutes later...

Just as I expected. Steel thought to himself as he continued to run. For some reason, that subclass skill kept turning on to the point that Steel just gave up on turning it off each time. Unfortunately, because of this skill, Steel ran across several similar situations where he accidentally caused a girl to fall into a love sick trance in front of her date and/or boyfriend, causing the said date to chase after him in anger. It didn’t even matter whether they were People of the Land girls or female adventurers. On a side note, the girls affected went back to normal once Steel was over 10 meters away. As he escaped his latest foe, Steel was just getting tired of it. "At this rate, I'll be the enemy to all men and I won't be able to catch a break." Steel said as he panted a little. Although he was more physically fit than most people, he's had to run a lot today so being tired was expected. But mainly, he was mentally tired from all of this. He was partially amazed that nobody has caught him yet. He knew that he had to lie low for at least a while. But how would he do that when he stuck out like a sore thumb at this point and his Courtesan skill wasn't helping either. In fact, it was just making matters worse. For once, he couldn't have a low presence, something he took for granted in the past. "Okay, I gotta calm down and think this through." Steel said to himself as he found himself in an alleyway. "In order for me to regain my low presence I've gotta redirect the attention of other people." He then calmed down as he turned off his courtesan subclass skill and then blended into the crowd. Using his eyes, he directed the attention of the people around him elsewhere by making it look like something important was happening somewhere else and after doing that for a while, people weren't really paying attention to him as much.

At this point, he didn't care that he was going back to his daily thing of going out to hunt because he really didn't want to deal with any of these people out on the hunt for him. He decided to just go out into the fields and go hunting in order to lay low. He was even planning on sleeping in a tree that night. It was around then that he was right in front of the Japanese restaurant that he frequented that was run by a non Japanese. "Ah, Oji-san, long time no see." He said in a friendly tone as the man had been kind to him when Steel was just starting out and they became friends through conversation.

"Hey kid, looks like that skill of yours is causing you some trouble again huh?" The man replied pointing to the horde of angry guys searching for him. They hadn't found him yet but it was only a matter of time. "Hide in my stall." He said to Steel who graciously took the offer and jumped behind the counter and hid under it. When the angry mob reached the stall the man pointed them in the opposite direction, leading them away. "Now that they're gone, you might want to try finding a place to go low key. Maybe you could go to a nearby music cafe." Steel nodded and thanked the man before heading off in the direction he was told.

Not long after that, Steel saw what seemed to be a cross between a small theater and an outdoor bar. There was a small stage for anyone who wished to perform and there was a bar nearby with people drinking. People are already drinking at this time of day? Steel thought with bewilderment at why people drunk alcohol in the first place. Now he just felt like playing music to calm down before going out into the fields. He went over to the stage, ignoring the looks of other people and summoned out his piano. He sat down at the seat and his fingers were on top of the keys. "Chopin's Étude Op. 25, No. 5." He whispered to himself the song he had in mind before beginning. His fingers began to dance on the keys, producing beautiful music. He heard this song a lot when he was a child so he knew it by memory. He started off by playing the way it was originally supposed to be played and then he felt a bit bored and decided to put his full personality into it. He began to play powerfully and full of intensity but at the same time gentle. At first, the audience was shocked by the complete change in playing style but were soon captivated by his playing and it helped that the Courtesan skill that turned itself on attracted the attention of people in the first place. However, this time nobody was in the love sick trance which caused him trouble earlier. Steel just continued to play in the style he felt and it created a powerful imagery to the point that some in the audience began to wonder whether it was an illusion. As his song neared the end, he began to slow down and created a beautiful yet dramatic close to the song. He stood up and bowed as the audience applauded. It was then he noticed that the angry horde was nearby and he was so caught up in playing that he forgot about them. Making sure not to alert anyone of anything he put his piano back in his inventory and turned off his Courtesan skill before trying to get out of there.

As usual, to make it difficult for people to follow him, he jumped onto the roofs of buildings and went through difficult to traverse paths in the streets to get to the Windsor Greatwood. Even though he knew that he lost his pursuers already, Steel was just being cautious.  It didn't take long for him to get out of the safe zone and into the woods.

Words: 1568

OOC: Now you know why Steel jumps on the roofs and such

Frost

[Frost]

Steel

@ Tag

WORDS | 449

T WORDS | 449

Don’t cry– your tears will freeze.

    Music cafes weren't weird, right? Everyone went to them. Oh who was he kidding, he had never went to one in the real world and didn't intend to. But this wasn't the world he had once known, so he could break off from what he would usually do. In this world he was a bard, and what better way to learn about how to be one than to hang out at a place full of musicians? Or at least what he assumed was. People in the crowd did know something about music, he hoped. But then again it might just be an interesting way to get out of the daily grind they might have created. Try to reach the highest level, get the most gold. It would make them feel at ease in Elder Tale.

    Suddenly, the sound of a piano. It wasn't nessecarily the sound of a piano that caught his eye, it was that the beginning sounded familiar. Sounded as if it was from a Studio Ghibli movie, for just a moment. After the initial few moments though it didn't remind him of one at all. Wasn't even that good, really. The song, that is. Whoever was playing it didn't screw up, as far as he noticed. Perhaps he should try and socialize, or not. Could just be that one nobody sitting at a table doing nothing. "Ah screw it" he thought. Up he went. Had to talk with someone sooner or later.

    The bard joined in on the clapping, as he made his way towards the pianist. Not too fast, not too slow. No sudden movements were made, but he rushed right out of the place. Some people were following. Great. Well he couldn't head back to his table, it'd be weird. Make him look like a fool in his view. So with nothing else to do he followed the pianist out the door! Might as well try and socialize with him still if he could. Although once they were out he decided to well, try and make an anime scene out of the whole thing. Jumping across roof tops. He was crazy. But playing a song like that meant he couldn't be a person that was full of himself, right? Someone had to have told him it didn't sound that great.

    He followed the man, just walking along the paths which the buildings went along. Occaisonally he'd jog for a bit, when there was a large distance between himself and the pianist. But that was only every so often. Frost just kept on following until they got to the Windsor Greatwoods. Wasn't like the guy could go running anymore. He had some explaining to do.

MADE BY SUNBUNS

[Steel]

Steel was already somewhat deep within the woods when monsters started approaching. Out of habit, his entire focus was on the 7-8 Nepent Snatchers, most of them being level 10 beginning to circle him. He didn’t even notice that there was another player behind him because his first focus was analyzing the situation at hand. “Oops, looks like I made too much noise running here.” Steel said with a sheepish yet carefree expression on his face as he scratched his head before doing a face palm. “Oh right, I just made things worse since they rely on sensing sound. Looks like I’ll have to fight them.” His right hand then reached for a sword on his back only to find that it wasn’t there. Oh right, my swords are still in my inventory because I wanted to keep a low profile in town. Steel thought to himself with a sigh as he accessed his inventory and summoned one of his swords which he gripped in his right hand. Because he only had one sword equipped, his skill Fencer Style automatically activated, increasing his attack power by a reasonable amount. “Okay then, I’ll play around with you all since you seem so insistent on it.” Steel said to the nepents who began to advance towards him as he pointed his sword at a group of them. “Bring it on!” He said this all loudly on purpose to draw them closer to him as he was quite bored and wanted to see how many he could fight at once. Sure, his level was far superior to the monsters but even with this level difference, there was such a thing as being overwhelmed by numbers if one got cocky. Well, if worst comes to worst, I’ll just use some skills to get rid of them or to run away. Steel thought to himself as he got into a fighting stance. Immediately, he rushed towards the closest group of enemies and began his attack. His sword began moving back and forth in slashing motions and began cutting into the enemies, almost killing them all in one hit due to the level difference and the increased attack power from his skill. After the first three were killed, the other Nepents immediately began to agro Steel and began to attack him. They’re so slow. I’m way too used to the higher leveled enemies which are for the most part far faster. Steel thought to himself as he dodged another attack from another Nepent and killed it with two slashes to its mid-body. At this point, the remaining Nepents realized that there was no way to beat the Swashbuckler who was at a much higher level than them and decided to switch targets to the other person whom Steel had just noticed was there. “Hey, you there!” He exclaimed to the boy who didn’t look that much younger than himself. However, from looking at his status screen, Steel could tell that this guy wouldn’t last long against four level 10 Nepents being only a level 1. “Don’t make a sound!” He then began to shout to the Nepents to get their attention. “Hey, over here you freaks! I’m the one you want!” He shouted as he charged at them, making as much noise as possible as this was the only way that he could regain their attention. Steel being a Swashbuckler had stats that mainly revolved around speed so he was able to catch up to them pretty easily before cutting them up with his sword, making them burst into rainbow colored bubbles which was the anima of all living things. “Phew, that was a close one. Are you okay?” He asked the level 1 player. “My name’s Steel, what’s yours?” He said with a smile as he stuck out his hand for a handshake. “Man, what are you doing this deep into the forest? It’s dangerous if you’re just starting out you know?” He asked with curiosity as this area, although not hard for Steel and other of his level, was not for beginners fresh out of the gate.

Words: 683

Frost

[Frost]

Steel

@ Tag

WORDS | 473

T WORDS | 972

Don’t cry– your tears will freeze.

    Oh great, just his luck. Several flytrap like monsters were around them. Just here, not over the bend and away from them. They pianist just had to stop in this spot. If they were anything like what they were based off of in the real world they would need fresh meat. Which just so happened to be them. As far as he knew they should have been in swampy areas, if he remembered correctly. Some plants turned to eating bugs to getting their nutrition in the swamps, since there the soil was lackluster. Something like that. Maybe, possibly. Probably not. He never did all that well in science class. Although biology had been the easiest of the subjects the year he learned about different plants and such.

    The pianist made a remark about how he'd made too much noise. "Really?" the bard replied, sarcastically. That wasn't hard to tell. He proceeded to make comment about how he shouldn't have talked, they relied on it. Blah blah blah. The guy tried to act like a hero that you'd seen in a show, or anime rather with all his jumping across roofs. It was just all so silly. If he wanted to do that all the time he should have went and chosen assassin as his main class. From the look of things though he went and made himself a warrior class, like a guardian. How fun. Don't half ass two things, whole ass one thing. As Ron Swanson would put it. He should have went and filled out the role of a "protagonist" as best as he could.

    Frost just shrugged whenever he spoke. There wasn't much to worry about with plants. Weren't really scary, there was an adventurer who appeared to be more than just a low leveled adventurer like him and he'd read a little about them. Want them to leave you alone you don't move, sense vibrations according to what the pamphlet handed out by the Britain Royal News. Using thing it was. A bunch of information about the creatures in certain environments. Useful to know what you're dealing with, and to know what you might want to capture or train, depending on your subclass. But all this heroic stuff would make for an interesting story to tell later. It was like it popped right out of an anime.

    "Eh, yeah" the bard replied when asked about if he was alright. Nothing attacked him, probably because of the advice from the pamphlet which was restated by the warrior. "Frost" he said, before giving Steel a firm handshake. "I was uh, following you. Wanted to hit up a conversation after seeing you in the cafe" he added. It'd be interesting to see how he responded. Perhaps he would instantly think he was one of his biggest fans. Hopefully that wasn't the case.

MADE BY SUNBUNS

[Steel]

“It’s nice to meet you Frost.” Steel said when the bard said his name and shook his hand as he sheathed his sword. Afterwards, when Frost told him the reason for him being in this area, Steel felt both surprised, embarrassed and a little ashamed that he got someone else caught up in what he was doing. “Sorry about that, I wasn’t meaning to get anyone caught up in what I was doing.” Steel said with a sheepish smile, his expression clearly showing his emotions on the matter. “I didn’t think anyone was following me. Well, actually I was expecting a certain angry mob to try and chase after me. That’s why I was jumping on the rooftops and going through all those difficult to maneuver through areas. I just didn’t expect anyone to be able to persistently follow me through all of that and out into the woods. Maybe I should pick a harder route next time.” After saying this, he immediately began to think of different routes around the city for him to escape through next time. “Anyway, why were you following me after seeing me in the café? It was because of that piano performance wasn’t it? Looks like that was a bad idea, I was trying to avoid attention and erase my presence but I couldn’t help but start playing when I saw the stage. I still can’t figure out why you followed me though. I think of myself as a pretty good piano player but not good enough to draw fans so it’s definitely for some other reason.” Steel was trying to figure it out in his head as he couldn’t think of any reason for this bard to follow him off the top of his head. After a while, he then remembered something about the area they were in. “That reminds me, maybe we should at least head back into the area with lower level monsters. It might be dangerous if we get surrounded. Once in a while, a field boss will appear here.”

Words: 339

OOC: btw, how would Frost figure out Steel was a swashbuckler just from seeing him hold one sword? A lot of classes can use a sword
Frost

[Frost]

Steel

@ Tag

WORDS | 435

T WORDS | 1357

Don’t cry– your tears will freeze.

    There the guy went, saying stuff out loud that he probably should have said in his head. But eh, this was a free server? He could do whatever he pleased. People would be secretly judging him from far away, while he'd be blissfully unaware. Not his problem though. But in a world like this word might spread around quick. It was better to not draw attention to himself in a bad way. Or that's what Frost would want for himself. If he had to be known for anything it should be for something good. Not a bunch of goofy movements, and some foolish dreams. Something that would gladly make him say that he was indeed the fellow they'd heard so much about. Not the other way around.

    "Wow, this guy really, really full of himself" the bard thought, rolling his eyes. He did exactly what Frost hoped for least. Even had the guts to go and act high and mighty, like he was some celebrity and make a comment about the fans. It was all just so silly, so cringe worthy. Should he break the poor little ideas he had stuck in his head, shatter them? Yes, yes he should. Not in a rude way, or a really rude way at least. Just enough to make him, disappointed and embarrassed. Nothing wrong in doing that, right? "Eh, no. Not really" he said, pausing for a moment. Should he taker it farther? Hell yeah he should take it farther. Be honest with the guy, even if it might be painful for him to hear it. "Song was uh, pretty bad to be honest" he added. Whether he took that as a stab at his music choices or playing was up to him.

    "Wanted to uh, talk to a bard and learn some things actually." Hopefully he wasn't in a mood from the thing he said just prior. "Not just bard things, but some general things." Wasn't too hard to look at his level and see what he was talking about. Didn't need to be a genius to tell what he meant when you took a look at his level. But if you didn't know even then you had to be real dense. It wasn't rocket science. "Let's talk and walk though" he added, as he began to walk in the direction where they'd just come from at a slow pace. Didn't want to lose the warrior. "But from what I've seen you're clearly not my guy." Frost wanted to play around with him a little. Just to get a reaction. It was all in good nature.

MADE BY SUNBUNS

[Steel]

I am getting the feeling that he doesn’t like me very much. Steel thought to himself as he saw the look on Frost’s face which held an expression of annoyance with a hint of a cringe. Was it something I said? Steel couldn’t really figure it out at this point. He didn’t think he had said anything offensive or arrogant sounding. It was then the bard decided to answer his earlier question and even said that the song he played at the music café was terrible. “Ah, is that so?” Steel said, his normal tone of voice and somewhat carefree facial expression showing no signs of changing. “If you mean by my song choice, there’s nothing I can do about it, everyone has their own preference in music. If you meant my playing, I guess by some standards, it was pretty terrible. I was off rhythm quite a bit, the tempo was inconsistent at parts, and above all, I didn’t follow the music score. But…it was fun.” He said this with a grin. “You know, during the first 25% of the song where I followed what was written on the sheet music, the entire time I was thinking ‘This is representing how the composer felt at the time when he wrote this but it doesn’t represent myself.’ I merely wanted to play the piece that Chopin wrote the way I wanted to and show who I was.”

When Frost revealed the actual reason for following him as they started to walk towards the beginner hunting fields, Steel understood the situation. Due to him playing piano, Frost must have thought that he was a Bard and started to follow after him. The bard in question then admitted that he got the wrong guy. “Yeah, you followed a guy with the wrong class. I’m a Swashbuckler so you were close since both classes are under the weapon specialist category. They’re actually right next to each other in the selection menu when you make a character.” Steel commented as he looked around once in a while to check for any other monsters nearby. He saw some boars off to the side grazing but they weren’t the type to attack without provocation. Even if they did attack, it’d be way too easy to dispatch them. Seeing no other monsters to worry about for the moment, he decided to continue to conversation. “So, how has Elder Tale been treating you so far? Did you freak out when you first arrived?” That was the usual case with most adventurers that all of a sudden arrive. Steel was one of the few exceptions that was able to keep his cool, having to help other adventurers by slapping some sense back into them, once literally.

“By the way, you should really be careful on how you think of things.” Steel brought up after a bit, his expression and tone of voice somewhat more serious than normal. In reality, this was more of his normal personality back in the real world and he just suppressed it in Elder Tale. “I may act like this but I’m not the dullest tool in the shed. I can tell that you were already thinking that I was arrogant due to something I said that you took the wrong way. You make assumptions far too easily and too quickly. If you keep that up, it’s going to be the end for you socially and in combat. And you know, dying here won’t just mean a loss of experience points like it was originally. There’s an awful high price to pay as well and I’m not talking about money either. It’s best to die as little as possible so you might want to get rid of that mindset you have.”

Words: 626

Frost

OOC: I'm assuming that none of the beginners including Frost know about the whole losing memories when you die thing just to let you know

[Frost]

Steel

@ Tag

WORDS | 485

T WORDS | 1842

Don’t cry– your tears will freeze.

    "Just the song, rest was good." The bard hadn't even noticed anything was wrong with the piano playing at the time. Maybe it was because he didn't listen to pieces played on the piano often, or simply because he was stuck in thought at the time. Whatever it was didn't matter. But it was best not to get on this guys bad side, most likely. "True true" he replied, when he mentioned how everyone had their own preference. Couldn't please everyone. There was always something that offended or didn't sound well to someone. Couldn't control it. Just play what you like. That was all that mattered. "Uh huh" was all Frost could say about the last few words he said. Some words about feelings that he did not understand one bit.

    Great, so the guy was a swashbuckler. A class which tried to get more dps by wielding two blades. It was a foolish class to be. Why wield one blade when you could wield two and easily get one knocked out of your hand in a battle? Honestly, it was pure nonsense. Anyone who chose it initially should have changed right when they got into this world. Might work when Elder Tale was a game, but it wasn't one anymore. You needed to follow the rules of this world. Use your brain for once. Think for yourself. Is this a really bad idea? If yes, you should probably do something about it. Especially when not only your life, but the life of others was on the line. Granted, they could revive. But still. Don't be that guy who makes the whole party fall apart to look "cool."

    Did he, freak out when he first arrived? Oh that was an understatement. He was absolutely terrified. Didn't wander out of the safe zone for what must have felt forever. Lots and lots of people were already ahead of him in levels. Heck it was hard to find someone at his level, wearing and using the same old starter equipment. "W-weren't we all?" he replied. He didn't turn to look at Steel while asking the question. Just had his head slightly tilted, looking at the ground. Wasn't a subject he wanted to get in depth about. Would make the bard feel, uncomfortable. The question asked prior was completely ignored.

    "Think of things?" A change of topic was nice. Very nice. They should stay on whatever topic this was. Oh and here the guy went, talking about how he appeared "judgey". Sure, he kind of was. But was it really that noticeable? Also couldn't be like this guy wasn't judged often. "Not really bu-" he stopped abruptly. "Wait what?" Steel wasn't telling him something that was important, from the sound of things. "What, like gold and stuff? That' the norm" he replied. A part of the bard wasn't quite sure be wanted to know whatever wasn't being told.

MADE BY SUNBUNS

[Steel]

Just from looking at the bard’s facial expression when Steel said that he was a Swashbuckler, Steel thought it was pretty obvious that Frost showed some (if not a lot of) disdain for the class. Steel didn’t really like this train of thought as the person he looked up to as well as the person who introduced him to the game was a Swashbuckler. In fact, his deceased friend Kyousuke was the original ‘Steel the Swashbuckler’. “You really don’t like the Swashbuckler class do you? It’s easy to tell from your facial expression.” The Swashbuckler asked keeping his own expression the same, keeping his thoughts in his head and not letting it show on his face. “What is it about them that you dislike?” He then began to list off some of the common reasons he’s already heard in town. “One argument is the supposed impracticality of dual wielding or how one sword could get knocked out of their hands easily, rendering their skills useless at that point. As for the first one, there’s already an in-game system that gives the Swashbuckler the coordination and basic skill to fight with a sword in each hand from the very start. As for the second one, yes, there are quite a few skills that require using both blades. However, there are skills that don’t require the use of both blades and there are even others that have the ability to fix that issue if it were to be knocked out of your hand and such. Besides, anyone could get their weapon knocked out of their hand, it doesn’t just apply to Swashbucklers.” He said this with a small smile. “Are there any other issues you would like me to address?” If anything, Steel wanted to teach this person some manners and that all classes had their advantages and disadvantages and not one of these classes were useless, especially Swashbucklers. Okay, that last part was due to his own pride. As a former Assassin on the Japanese server and a current Swashbuckler, he favored those two classes the most.

Frost only answered the second question about being freaked out and ignored the first question. Frost answered Steel’s question with another question saying that everyone must have been freaked out by it. From the bard’s nervous tone of voice and his body language, it was pretty obvious that he was one of the majority of people who freaked out when they first arrived in Elder Tale. Unfortunately, Steel didn’t share this emotion in regards to this. “Actually, I was pretty calm when I first arrived here. Surprised, yes but not exactly scared out of my wits.” Steel replied calmly as he tried to recall his first day. “That may just be because some of my emotions are a bit skewed. I just don’t react the same as everyone else about certain things. Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same about the people around me who for the most part were screaming in panic. I guess it was good that I could stay calm since it helped me to calm some of the people around me at the time. I’ve been doing that with a lot of the newcomers I’ve met since then.” It was then Steel remembered something slightly into the future of that event. “Ah, there was also that student of mine, a Guardian named Saskia, now guild master of that Vylbrand Academy Guild who didn’t freak out either. She seemed to be somewhat shocked that she was now in Elder Tale but she got used to it extremely quickly, only complaining about how uncomfortable wearing armor was before taking it off.” Steel then had a look of slight irritation and embarrassment. “Let’s just say that wasn’t a good idea…” Steel hoped that Frost would know that if you had plate armor as your starting equipment, you usually didn’t have any clothes underneath except for undergarments. “…..My point is, not everyone gets too freaked out over it although I will say that a majority of people do.”

To Steel, it appeared that Frost was about to rebut to what he said before stopping abruptly when Steel mentioned the high price to pay from dying in this world. In fact, Frost looked more confused and attempted to bring the conversation to a level he understood asking if the cost was more gold or something. Steel looked hesitant to tell him but decided to, knowing he would have to find out sometime and there was no greater time than the present. “Just like how it was when it was just a game, if you die, you will lose experience points, money, and sometimes even items. After having been transported here, I think we were all prepared for that when we go out of the safe zones after finding out we revive. However, now there is an extra price added on to dying in this world. A terrible price.” The Swashbuckler then pointed at the Bard’s forehead, where the brain was. “It’s our memories from when we were still in our world.” His facial expression was much more serious, lacking any of his normal carefree composure. “We don’t exactly lose all of them at once just little bits of it each time we die but the seriousness of this remains the same. I’ve only died once or twice and I can’t confirm how much of my memory I’ve lost, you can’t remember what you’ve forgotten you see, but I’ve figure out some bits. You know, back in the real world, I had a friend named Kyousuke who pretty much had to live in the hospital due to his health issues. I still remember him clearly sitting in that hospital bed as well as the room he resided in. I visited him almost every chance I could and yet, I’ve forgotten the name of that hospital that I visited almost every day as well as some of the layout of the building which I walked through on each visit.” Steel hoped that Frost would understand the seriousness of this. “I hope you understand that dying here is no joke. I’m not a Bard so I can’t exactly teach you how they fight but here’s a piece of advice. You need to keep your wits about you and be aware of your surroundings. Making assumptions too quickly or being too indecisive might just get you into deeper trouble. This is true for both dealing with monsters and interacting with other people. At the same time though, don’t be so stiff and don’t be too cautious of everything, you’ll lose chances to gain comrades and friends, something that I believe is important, especially now.” He added that last part with a much more lighter tone and a small smile.

Words: 1129

OOC: Wow, that was a long one! Thanks for waiting!
Frost

[Frost]

Steel

@ Tag

WORDS | 1008

T WORDS | 2850

Don’t cry– your tears will freeze.

    "I'll be honest, it's a bit of a stupid class" he replied. Wasn't very creative at all. Hell it was just an excuse to make another dps class if he had to be honest. Would have been much more interesting to add a Warlock class. Would have been much more interesting. Unfortunately that idea wouldn't work all too well, do to the overlapping themes he could think of. Summoning small imps like a Summon might, all the death and craziness you get from the Heretic. Or at least what he felt like he got, he'd never actually played one. Only read the description for it. Did mention how they were considered Warlocks, and what was it. Witches? He couldn't quite remember. Maybe that class was more like the theme he felt like would fit a Warlock. Having never played or played with one of them he didn't know the spells they had. Maybe he just got the summoning imps idea from playing a tad bit much Hearthstone while he was in the real world? Probably not. Maybe. That was definitely where he got the idea, even if that wasn't the class he would main. A bit of the hunter class too for a while, but he always returned to the first class he did well at.

    "Eh, no but like it's easier to knock out. It's like uh" he said, pausing for a moment. "Uh like holding a glass on your flat hand and walking. It's likely going to fall, and the chance is a lot less when you got another hand on it." There, that was a good way to visualize what he was trying to explain. Only difference was that instead of walking with the glass it's more like you're running. And bashing into stuff. While someone was trying to kill you. That escalated quickly, didn't it? Oh well, not like Steel knew that. But if he did try and say the two were nothing alike he could go ahead and describe it in a much more, descriptive fashion if you will. It was a lot like that one thing he read about how school was like learning to ride a bike. Except you're going downhill. And you're juggling, also on fire. Something like that.

    Oh and here he went, going back and talking about the beginning, when the apocalypse happened. Couldn't they just, forget about it? Leave it behind. It was something of the pass. Forget the past and look forward. Work for a brighter future. What was history was history. Meaning don't bring up the topic again. For the love of all that was good in the world. Don't bring it up. "Uh huh, uh huh" was all the bard said. Don't go in depth. Don't get him asking why he wasn't speaking. Said something about how taking armor off and on wasn't very comfortable for one of his students. What, was it because you were all sweaty and it felt gross? He wasn't thinking all too hard about what Steel might have been implying. Not like he needed to anyway.

    Thankfully the swashbuckler moved back to the subject of death. Kind of Grim, wasn't it? Oh well, wasn't like it was as dangerous as in real life. Or that the pain was as nearly as bad. Right? He started off simple, explaining how you lost gold and stuff. Yeah yeah, he knew that already. Everyone did. What'd you expect? A lot of the functions from Elder Tale was moved over. That was something that you would generally expect to be moved over as well. Just like how there were boss spawns and such. It was still primarily, a game. Still had many of the functions from the old game many of them knew. "Terrible?" You lose your location, boo hoo. Frost raised an eyebrow when the swashbuckler pointed at him. What. Was it something he said? No need to get all offended that he was trying to lighten the mood somewhat. Or question him. He should calm himself. Honestly.

    "WELP" the bard said, quite loud. Another excuse for why he was stuck in the safe zone for so long. And another reason why he should have likely stayed there. But he wouldn't return there. He was stronger, better than before. Train off the weak monsters, read what the pamphlets had to say about the monsters. Have all the fun you wanted when you knew you weren't going to get destroyed and lose part of the memories you had forged in the real world. Great. Would he even remember what he lost. What would go first. The major things or the small things? Hopefully if anything was to go first it would be the stuff about Pokemon and Hearthstone. It'd take forever to flush out all the info for everyone of those creatures. Not much of a worry if that was the first to go. It'd take dozen and dozen of deaths to forget every last thing he knew about it and definitely wasn't willing to admit about it. But he wasn't going to be able to choose. He could lose the memories which were most precious to him. Memories of his family, friends. Death was still something undesirable in this world.

    Here Steel went again though, talking about how making assumptions too quickly was a bad thing. It wasn't like he was his parents or teacher, was he? He was telling him some new and important information. So in a way you could say he was a teacher. But talking about losing comrades and friends, really? Going back to how he was trying to act like a protagonist in some anime. He wasn't. Stop acting like it. Now it was just getting quite annoying. "Yeah yeah" he said, in a slightly unhappy tone. Should he say something to console him? Nah, he'd just butcher it up. Looked like the two might just end up walking back about of the valley in awkward silence. Hopefully one of them would figure out something to say.

AP FOR THIS POST AND ABOVE HAS BEEN CLAIMED

MADE BY SUNBUNS

[Steel]

“Well, it looks like you aren’t very keen on giving other classes a chance.” Steel said in response as Frost just bluntly said that the Swashbuckler class was stupid. Steel was able to notice a sense of boredom in the bard’s tone of voice and in Steel’s opinion, he was acting a bit like a spoiled brat. “You’re not even wanting to give reasons for why you think it’s stupid. I get the feeling the only idea you have in your head is how the class wasn’t very creative and it should have been replaced with some other class you found interesting.” In a way it was creepy how Steel could read most people’s thoughts by looking at one’s face and listening to their voice. Because of kendo and other activities Steel frequented in the real world, Takeshi had to learn how to use his skills of observation to figure out what a person was generally thinking. He was able to do all this using a technique called ‘Cold Reading’, a technique commonly used by fortune tellers, mystics and the like where you observe a person’s body language, age, clothing or fashion, hairstyle, gender, manner of speech, etc to obtain information. Such an ability was an invaluable resource in a kendo match where you had to read your opponent’s movements in order to guess what they’re doing. Because of this little trick, a fellow swashbuckler he met a while ago said that she swore that he was a mind reader or something. This was also because he himself had terrible social skills. The only way he could even attempt to fit in with his peers was to observe the reactions of the people around him and use that to his advantage in conversations. “If that’s the case, the Guardian class, Sorcerer Class, the Cleric Class and other such would also fall under that category as they’ve been used countless times and are pretty much a cliché of fantasy games. Swashbucklers/Dual Wielding as well have been a staple in a good deal of fantasy games if it includes swords”

“That was a terrible example.” Steel replied bluntly, not knowing whether to be more appalled at the bard’s lack of knowledge in martial arts or his lack of common sense. He honestly wanted to hit the guy across the head. “Next thing I know, you’ll be using riding a bike while juggling and on fire as a metaphor.” He could only sigh at the idiocy of the person in front of him. “The way we would hold a sword is completely different from how one would hold a glass in your little metaphor. Who the crap would fight with that sort of grip? It’s impractical and it makes no sense. And if a person were to grip a sword in the correct way, it’d actually be much more difficult to knock it away than holding it in just your palm. For Swashbucklers and those with the Ambixterity skill, where basically both of our hands are a dominant hand, we’d be able to grip two swords with the same amount of strength on each of them and be able to maintain our focus with both weapons. Also, as I mentioned earlier, anyone who wields a one handed weapon would be facing the same risk of it getting knocked out of our hands. Our weapons aren’t glued to our hands you know?” He then remembered something. “Oh yeah, you might want to work on those metaphors of yours, they really suck and they’re difficult to understand.” Steel was thinking that this guy had even worse social skills than him in some aspects.

After explaining what happens if you die in the game, Frost was visibly shocked and let out a loud welp. Steel was personally glad about this as this meant the bard understood the graveness of the situation. “Glad to see you’re taking the situation seriously.” Steel said, voicing his opinion. After the stuff the swashbuckler said when he was trying to end it on a positive note, Frost still looked unhappy and annoyed. Oy vey, there is no cheering this guy up is there? Steel thought to himself with a bit of annoyance as the two of them just continued to walk in awkward silence. With the large differences in opinions, it was no wonder the two couldn’t think of an idea to talk about. It wasn’t like Steel had the social skills to initiate a ton of conversations on his own either. The only reason why he was able to start one earlier was because of the battle against those plant like monsters.

“Run for it!” Cried out a few adventurers as they ran past the two of them. From the looks of their equipment, they also seemed to be beginners and when Steel checked their levels though their status screens, his guess was confirmed. It was then he heard the sound of a charging boar, most likely the reason why the beginner adventurers were running. It wasn’t just any boar either, it was the Iron Tusked Gerald which was basically the boss version. Steel knew he had to protect the players that were running away since he wanted to make sure people lost as little memories as possible if he could help it. His body was already moving on his own and in the pathway of the Gerald as he made sure he had a sword in each hand. “Dart Tack Target!” He shouted, activating the voice recognition system of the skills system, causing his body to move on its own. His arms began moving to slash at the incoming enemy, dealing it only a small amount of damage but he accomplished his goal of increasing agro on it to gain its attention. However, he also knew that alone wouldn’t stop the Gerald’s advance so that’s why Steel stood in front of the large beast, taking the full hit as the moment right after using a skill would leave him vulnerable. Due to the level difference, Steel didn’t take too much damage but it still hurt somewhat. What was there to worry about was the bleeding debuff he got from it, making his health points gradually drop for the next 30 seconds. But he had accomplished his goal of stopping the boar and getting it to fully focus on himself instead of the retreating Adventurers. His facial expression became serious as the boar was sizing him up as well as vice versa. Steel began to quickly think of his options. I have to make sure it only stays focused on me. With the lower leveled Frost here, the boar might just go for him instead just like those Nepent Snatchers. It was then he realized that depending on what skills Frost had, Steel could clear this without much difficulty. “Frost, tell me what sort of skills you have!” He exclaimed. “If you have a skill that can keep this guy’s agro on me, use it! Viper Raise!” He shouted once more, activating the skill with his voice. His body then moved to slash at the giant boar and give it a bleeding debuff. “Also, use your Sigil Making skill to boost attack power!” He knew of the bar’s subclass from looking at his status screen earlier.

Words: 1216
Frost
OCC: sorry for taking so long. and oh look a new battle

[Frost]

[nospaces]

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[attr="class","textieno"]Looked like he wasn't very keen on giving other classes a chance? Might be true. Frost wouldn't say it like that though. He really only disliked the swashbuckler for the reason that they weren't a very reliable choice when the game wasn't actually a game. It was real life now, which made the class. Impractical one might say. That was only his opinion however. But when you thought about it they really weren't that good of a choice. Then again he hadn't seen them in action, or talked to some about the game mechanics that apply to them. He didn't know how to play a flute. But now he did. Elder Tale wasn't a normal world. Maybe that was because it actually was a game's world, and not the real world they were all so use to.
[break][break]

Oh there Steel went. Blabbing on and on about how foolish the bard sounded. "If that's the case" blah blah blah. Boring. Sure, they could be considered somewhat "cliche." But come on. Different lore. New looks. Varied with each game. But with the swashbuckler you had a guardian and stuck another sword on it. Wow. Much impressed. Such creative. Just took off the shield and made them less tanky. If someone really wanted a dps class assassin would have been better. Granted, it was basically the most common and uncreative class in video games. Mostly because they were all carbon copies of each other. Looks. Weapons. Only difference was they didn't look so stupid as the swashbucklers. Weren't as risky. Or at least that's what Frost thought. He stayed silent the whole time. Best to stay quiet. Less fighting. Because having two dominant hands didn't mean that holding a weapon with both hands didn't make a difference. That and those monsters from before might come back. Wouldn't be very good if they did. [break][break]

Metaphors? Had the bard mentioned one? He couldn't recall. Guy was talking for way too long. Honestly his favorite thing was likely talking. He'd probably even tell that to everyone. But there the swashbuckler went again. Trying to act as if he was so much better than the bard. Knew so much more. Which he really didn't, or didn't seem like. All he'd done was kill more monsters than him. Didn't mean too much. Just swing and hit. No brains required. For his class at least. Caster classes required a bit more, thinking.
[break][break]

"Run for it?" Frost said, raising and eyebrow as he looked in the direction they'd come from. When he saw what they were running from he must have turned real pale. That was one giant board. One really big and mad creature. Steel ran and tried to be heroic, which just left the bard standing there. Staring. "Skills? Oh uh" he said, pausing for a moment. What were his skills again? He'd memorized this. Kinda. Not really. Come on brain, come on! Think. "Uh oh I got one skill that's like aggro stuck thing, but I don't know if it'll be on me or you!" He replied. Never tried it. This guy was a high enough level to handle the boss on his own, right? "You gotta keep it still to do that, stun it or something!" No way was he going to go and try to cast something to boost the swashbuckler's skills when he would only get trampled.[break][break]

Word Count | 563[break][break]
Total Word Count | 3413[break][break]

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[attr="class","tagsieno"]Steel

❤

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