Out on the grind (Closed)

[Lyra]

RED LIKE ROSES

Lyra had been determined to make some progress this week; it wasn’t like she was going to level up by just sitting on her rump. Granted of course the simple fact that she already made it to level five; in only the week after her informal tour with Dumah. The summoner recalled the guild master making mention of a player needing to be level five or higher to join. While there was no distinct need to join them right this moment Lyra liked having her options open. At least until she saw a few more guilds before ultimately making her decision, sooner or later she would join a guild to help her further. There was a certain thrill of excitement after reaching her personal milestone; sure it wasn’t very high of a level but it was a vast improvement for her confidence. Not only had she learned a new summon but Lyra had obtained some slightly better equipment than she had started out with. Her basic grimoire had been replaced with a proper two handed carved oak staff; certainly more effective with whacking monsters over the head if absolutely necessary. Now she wore a woven cloth blouse that was a deep crimson red in color; the same color as her new hooded cloak that was nearly as long as she was tall. Her outfit finished off with a pair of cotton leggings that where charcoal black, along with a pair of brown leather boots and finally leather black finger-less gloves.

Currently the summoner was casually hanging out by the giant gate that acted as a portal between the safe zone and the massive Windsor great wood. The hood of her cloak was drawn over her head to block the brilliant light coming from the sun; the heat feeling as intense as it tried to bake her. Back in her mind she knew that that sun wasn’t really there, but of course things had been considerably different after the apocalypse. These days Lyra did her best to not dwell on such thoughts that made her heart ache for home; it been so long since she had last laid eyes on her parents. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she just gazed at the gate, knowing sooner or later she would have to go out and hunt. One could only kill so many slimes until it the cycle was effortless; sooner or later she would have to steel her heart and go deeper into the forest. However her more tank oriented companion would be better suited for just an afternoon of leveling up. Lyra’s golem had proved its usefulness a considerable amount in the past week she had been grinding. Truth be told the summoner was doing her best to give all of her companions their own moment; she didn’t want any of them to feel forgotten by her. It was one of her many goals to improve herself to the point where she could have multiple companions out at once.

Just a few more moments she would repeat to herself over and over in her mind; unintentionally delaying her trek into the forest. This wasn’t the best place to try and summon her golem, not if she wanted it to be made up of durable rocks. Sure it would take more mana to do so but in the long run it was certainly more valuable. Until she could gain enough power to call forth even more impressive creatures; at that point she would become a force to be reckoned with. After much delay she huffed a little as she started to walk off towards the game; using her staff like a long and finely carved walking stick. Her storm grey eyes somewhat looking down; which wasn’t the smartest idea her brain had ever concocted. It was certainly far too late to avoid bumping into a random person which sent her falling flat on her butt in the process. “Oh….I am sorry”; Lyra said as she went into sympathy mode. It caused her to finally look up in order to get a better gaze at who she had hit this time. Running into people was starting to become habit to her.

words:700tagged:@nyx

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[Deleted]

‘This time,’ Nyx thought to herself, ‘this time, for sure.’ Though it wasn’t the first time she thought that…. More like the hundredth or so time at that point… though probably more. When it came to self-confidence, Nyx have a very minimal amount… especially with where she was now.

Two years. Two very long years. That was how long it had been since Nyx became trapped in the world she was in now, and she still was not used to it. At first, she thought it had been nothing more than a bad dream, thinking she would wake up in her own room in the bedroom she shared with her twin brother. After a week, a part of her just knew that it wasn’t a dream… but she still hadn’t been ready to accept it. After all, this was the first game she had ever played, and now she was suddenly trapped inside it. It made no sense to her. Unfortunately, things didn’t get any easier for her, and she shut down. She did what she needed to do to get by, but not anything more… at least until recently.

It has been a very kind sorcerer who had awoken a nagging feeling inside of her mind. Even though the sorcerer wasn’t a level 90, he had told her what she needed to hear. She needed to move on, and to get stronger. Her problem, though, was that she had chosen a support class… or at least that’s what she believed it was called. She had chosen damaging skills when she set up Nyx to complement her brother’s style which was called a tank. The sorcerer had explained to her that a tank keeps monsters from attacking other people in their party. On the plus side though, she didn’t need to be explained what a healer did.

However besides learning about all that, Nyx was still getting accustomed to the colors. She had been colorblind, colors blurring together and not looking how they truly were. That all changed as soon as she arrived in the new world. Now purples looked purple instead of a vivid blue and yellows and red weren’t grayish. It definitely took her a lot of time to get used to…

Then there was the ears and tail. Rather than picking a normal human, she thought it would be cute to have a fox tail avatar. It would have been fine had it been a game, but now that the tails and ears were hers… well, it was definitely a shock to say the least.

All those things ran through Nyx’s mind as she stood near the gate that lead outside the city… to an area called Windsor Greatwood. She was told that that was the starting area for low-leveled adventurers such as herself. The only problem was that she had to walk through the gates… and she was terrified. She was turned around to head back into the main part of the city…

THUNK!

And someone ran into her causing her to stumble backwards a bit. The person apologized immediately, but they had been the one who ended up landing on their butt.

“I’m sorry as well,” Nyx responded, “I wasn’t paying attention when I was turning.” The person who had run into was a girl with a staff and a hood… and she was a lower level person like she was, although she was a higher level than Nyx… maybe they were going to go level… could it have been a sign?

Nyx offered the girl a hand to help her stand up, “I suppose I should introduce myself after that. I’m Nyx… are you by chance heading to Windsor Greatwood to level?”

Active Abilities: N/A
Word Count: 618
Tags: Lyra

Coding by Sayha of LH

[Lyra]

RED LIKE ROSES

Lyra was beginning to think that her hooded cloak was the issue, she always had it up when she accidently bumped into someone. She hadn’t the foggiest idea of who she hit until she titled her head up to get a better look. Right off the bat Lyra could tell that it was a fox tail girl; one of the more popular races based off what she had seen so far. A skinny thing that was probably no taller than herself; which surprised that she had managed to stay on her feet. “Well I sort of have a habit of running into people”; Lyra tried to laugh it off as she took the girls hand. It took a few attempts until Lyra was able to tug herself off her rump. The fox tail girl introduced herself as Nyx; but Lyra was more curious about the girl’s class and level. Out of curiosity she targeted the girl and pulled up her class information, she was a level fox tail enchanter. To think that she had been level one just over a week ago; it had taken some serious dedication to raise herself four levels in that span of time. “Well it is nice to meet you Nyx, I’m Lyra” she would finally respond in kind. This girl didn’t even miss a beat with her next question which caused Lyra to stop before she could even start walking away. Perhaps running into each other was a coincidence or perhaps something else entirely.

Lyra had made plans to go deeper into the forest today in the hopes of finding somewhat more challenging mobs. At this point fighting slimes was no longer worth the effort; and she had killed quite a few in seven days. “Well it’s funny that you mentioned leveling in the great wood. I was just about to head off that direction”. Perhaps Nyx was interested in joining up with her? Lyra had never been in a party before at this point, so far she had just relied on her golem to act as her tank. It wasn’t her place to assume such things but Nyx was just starting off; having someone else to help her would benefit her greatly at this point. Enchanters were perhaps one of the best support classes the higher levels they reached; certainly not a class to underestimate. In fact playing an enchanter was Lyra’s second choice if she hadn’t picked a summoner. A sort of awkward silence fell between the two girls; Lyra reached up and tugged her hood down to get a better look at Nyx. “I don’t suppose you were wanting to join me huh? My golem pet can tank pretty much anything low level”. However Lyra was lacking her own offensive spells at this point; she was primarily focusing on summoning creatures to battle for her. Though at some point she would actually pick spells that were capable of being used independent of any of her summons, but that required more levels.

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[Deleted]

Nyx thought that the girl was interesting. Now that she had a chance to study her, it seemed that her cloak might have been oversized. The girl said that she had a habit of running into people which Nyx thought was ironic since it was rather literal rather than metaphorical… though technically it was also a metaphor at the same time… but technicalities.

It took a few times before the girl was able to stand up, but when she finally did, she introduced herself as Lyra. After a moment, Lyra mentioned that it was funny that Nyx ask the question she did regarding headed to the Greatwood as that was where Lyra was about to head. Lyra appeared to get ready to speak more, but it proved incorrect as she ended up fidgeting with the hood on her cloak instead. She moved it backwards just enough so that she could actually see Nyx. Though it was a wonder she could see anything in the first place with the hood… though that was more than likely the problem with her literally and metaphorically running into people. Lyra though broke the ice of silence once more, asking Nyx if she wanted to join her. She explained that her golem pet could tank.

Nyx wasn’t quite sure how she felt about the tank being a pet… but then again, she had no idea what a golem was either. Wasn’t a golem one of those humanoid wrinkly characters that were incredibly thin at ate raw fish and squirrels? Or were they those things that ended up being spider food… eh, out of those, it could be either. Though it begged the question of whether it was a suitable tank or not… not that Nyx knew much about tanking so maybe she wasn’t the person to be questioning such ideas.

“Actually, that would be great,” Nyx finally responded, “I’ve been meaning to go out and work on leveling, but I don’t think I’d get very far by myself since I’m a support. I have two damaging spells as well as a binding spell.” At least that was what the sorcerer had told her. “I will follow your lead if you’re willing to let me tag along.”

Active Abilities:
Word Count: 371
Tags: Lyra

Coding by Sayha of LH

[Lyra]

RED LIKE ROSES

Lyra couldn’t deny that Nyx was a cute little fox girl; the type of girl that looked so soft and fuzzy to the touch. Hopefully she had managed to not come off as desperate for some companionship that wasn’t her summoned companions; Lyra was a social butterfly and thrived around other people similar to herself. In the back of her mind she was still contemplating the thought of joining Dumah’s guild now that she had attained level five. Though at the same time knowing that she had only seen one guild and there were plenty of other options out there. Lyra saw a look of concern on Nyx’s face when the topic of having a golem tanking was brought up. The summoner girl couldn’t blame the fox tail girl for her concern about having a golem tanking anything they came across; but Lyra had used her pet before and it worked out just fine. Granted she was lacking any offensive spells of her own; something that she would have to remedy whenever she got the chance to level up again. “Don’t worry about it Nyx, I have used my golem to tank before and it went just fine”; Lyra would do her best to reassure her soon to be party member. Which reminded her that she actually had to invite Nyx to a party before the two of them got the chance to actually leave the area. The proper course of action was to focus on weak creatures for Nyx.

Nyx mentioned that she actually had some offensive based spells, and well that was certainly better than what Lyra had at the moment. She found that so amusing that it made her laugh out a little more than she meant too; it caused her to get some strange looks from other players that were close by them. A moment passed before she managed to stop herself from laughing; perhaps the first time she had genuinely laughed in the two years she had been stuck here. Nyx gave her that sort of confused look which made Lyra go red in her cheeks just a little as an awkward silence fell between them. Lyra nervously reached up and rubbed the back of her hair as she just tried to subtly laugh the whole thing off. “Sorry about that, I just find it funny that you have offensive spells and I don’t”; she did her best to explain so she wouldn’t seem insane. “Anyways…” Lyra kept on trying to play off the whole awkward laugh by bringing up her social menu and set up a party for her and Nyx. In no time she clicked the proper button and the invite was sent out for Nyx to accept. Just to be safe Lyra helped Nyx accept it and finally the two of them were partied together. Just to make sure they were fully prepared Lyra decided to go ahead and summon her pet out now since it wouldn’t cost her any mana points.

Lyra would go silent as she navigated her screen one more and started to summon her golem pet. As the bar ticked down in front of her eyes the ground below her started to light up. Then as the casting bar faded away the light rose up and started to give form into her pet golem. She had picked to create the creature out of rocks; and as a result the three foot tall being was in fact a living set of rocks all clumped together. It had a humanoid shape with a single head, two arms, a chest, and two legs but of course its flesh was stone instead of soft skin. After a moment the light surrounding her golem faded away and the creature looked up at Lyra with its glowing yellow eyes. It’s health bar and attacks appeared at the bottom of her screen like it always did when she summoned it. “Well I think that everything is in order now Nyx. Since you are level one we can stick to slimes and the weaker boars”; no need to push their luck and risk running into something tougher than they could handle. With that Lyra took the lead and would make her way to the large gate that led out to the outer part of the forest.

words:720tagged: @nyx

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[Deleted]

The summoner was… interesting? Was that the right word for it? Either way, that was what Nyx was going to stick with. She was laughing nervously, rubbing the back of her head with her hand. She apologized, explaining that she thought it was funny that Nyx has offensive skills while Lyra didn’t. Funny? Nyx didn’t agree… once again, it was simply interesting. However, Nyx didn’t know much about Summoners… except that they summoned stuff… but that was kind of a given. Though with no offensive skills… that would mean Nyx would be the main one attacking? At least that was what she thought.

A window suddenly appeared in front of Nyx, almost startling her. It was a party invitation, asking if Nyx wanted to join Lyra’s party. She pressed the accept button with her right hand, and Lyra’s name then appeared in her sight. Then, a giant monster appeared out of nowhere. Well, not exactly nowhere… so this was one of the things a summoner could summon? It was rather impressive, Nyx had to admit. And she was glad it was on their side… and that was when she noticed that the Golem was listed in her vision as well underneath Lyra… and there was another icon in her vision as well. However, that could be checked out later. For now, Lyra said that since everything was in order, they were good to go. Their targets would be slimes and weaker boars. Sounded easy enough… at least for now.

But that was when Nyx’s big moment came, and she braced herself for it. It was time to finally leave the city. She didn’t say anything to Lyra, but instead took in everything that was around them. There was a path that faded in the horizon that went into a thick looking forest. However before the forest, there was a rather large plains area. Everything looked so… well, real. It didn’t look like they were in a video game. It felt like it was really… well, real.

Nyx followed behind Lyra and her golem, and that was when she remembered about the extra icon. She clicked on it, and it said it was called <Calm Mind>. It was a passive ability from Nyx herself, and it increased MP recovery passively outside of combat. It was a good thing, she figured. She didn’t really know much about MP or Mana or anything like that. Though her biggest concern would be her health. If it hit zero, she would die, and she didn’t want to die. Nyx also took that time to open her skills list and re-read the names of her skills. They were quite interesting names, but she knew very well what they did as she had spent a lot of time reading them over while staying in the city.

Up ahead of them, movement caught Nyx’s eye. It was a giant green… blob. A blob of what exactly, she had no idea. However, a pop-up appeared, telling her that it was called a Dull Green Slime. Of course, that was when a few other blobs appeared for a total of three. They seemed to be interested in Lyra and Nyx, but they didn’t attack.

“Um… I think we might have company,” Nyx said, not very sure of what to do.

Nyx’s hand passively went to the sword that was at her waist. She had never used a sword before, but it couldn’t be too hard… could it? Though the sorcerer she had talked to told her she would never have to use it, she couldn’t help but hope that that was true.

Active Abilities: <Calm Mind>
Word Count: 602
Tags: Lyra

Coding by Sayha of LH