[Solo] abyss

[Shiro]

Everything faded to the light as Shiroaki woke to the sound of panicked voices. Now, why everyone was so panicked, was something he didn't know. The only thing he knew, was that for some reason, he had woken up in the middle of a town. In the middle of the night, someone had abducted him, removed him from the soft comfort and safety of his bed, and placed him in the middle of a city. He himself was almost panicking. He stood up, and heard a clinking sound. "Armor..?" He said, and with that, he touched the Nodachi that had been slung across his back. Ever so slowly now, the details were starting to click into his head, as he reached up, and touched the tapered tip of his ears. The reality sunk in, but the panic did not. A lot of people were terrified, some crying, some cheering, as they all realized what had happened, and the fact that they had managed to find themself stuck inside a video game. The young Samurai started to walk around, his hands swinging and keeping pace with each step that he took. His real life did not apply here. He was not a coward here, or well, he didn't have to be.

Before long, he had learned how to interact with the menu, pulling up the main menu, learning how to interact with everything, and he saw his own name, and started to explore the area. Shiroaki had taken a more bold pass to this life. The prospect of him not being a coward in need of a hero,  but being the hero that he had needed growing up, to save him from his father's fists, or the lash of his mother's tongue, was immensely satisfying. He wasn't weak anymore, he didn't need to be a coward. No one could hurt him here, or if they tried, he could at least hurt them back. He would be better, here. The best. Then, he would be what he needed. Sociopaths are still sociopaths, murderers still murderers, some might play games, and as far as he knew, a lot of people here could be potential murderers. Which brought up the next question that he had for himself... Could he die? A question that he would rather have someone else find out, to be honest, although to meet his end in a dungeon, with sword in hand, defending a group of people he could call his friends - practically an ideal way to die.

Or..maybe not.

Shiro stepped out of the city, moving towards the woods. Common sense dictated that these woods would be teeming with monsters that were around Shiro's level to kill. This was the starter city, after all. There was no way that these monsters would be extremely difficult for him, a Samurai, to take down. Shiroaki, when creating this character, has chosen to become a Samurai out of an admiration for the Japanese warriors. Bushido, veracity, courage, strength. All things that the young Elf admired, were now embodied by him. Perhaps now, in this body, he could learn to admire himself. Baby steps needed to be taken. He drew his sword as he approached the woods, and targeted a low level goblin. Using his abilities, was not as difficult as one would imagine, he approached the goblin, and twisted his Nodachi in his hand, flourishing the blade, issuing his taunt via Bushi Chousen, and the two of them fought, with Shiro deflecting, or absorbing, a lot of the damage given to him by the goblin, and ending the fight with a Kabuto-wari, the adrenaline rushing through his body, he surged forward with this attack, and lodged the blade into the goblin's head, a dull thunk following the feeling of him crushing the skull of the goblin, as it disappeared.

He had never felt this great. Ever. Not even when he got his first job. With him ending that goblin's life, his confidence skyrocketed, and the others who were as brave as he was - or near, considering that a lot of them has just been watching him fight the goblin, also began to fight the mobs around the woods. This world was already infinitely better than his real life.

[Shiro]

With every goblin slain (all two of them) Shiro felt more and more like who he was supposed to be. His confidence and swagger increased much more than his experience did, he was proud of himself for once in his life. This intoxicating feeling of pride and joy was matched only by his exhaustion. He had slain all of two mobs, and he was tired. His mana pool was also exhausted, and he sat down against a tree, beginning to recover. As he was recovering, sitting cross legged, his Nodachi spread across his legs, his train of thought went back to death. What if this wasn't the right decision, if some people died like actually died trying to level up, and they died in real life, too. How would that even work? This was supposed to be a video game, yet here he sat, in his starting samurai armor, with his sword, fighting goblins, that disappeared after you killed them. Miraculous. The type of miracle that he only dreamed of, yet here it was, happening to him in real life. Or maybe, it was a dream. Either way, he preferred this to his boring, mundane existence. The other Shiroaki, is how he came to think of it.

After he had finished pondering his existence, Shiro stood, placing his Nodachi over his shoulder, and exploring further into the woods, always keeping one hand on the handle of his weapon, ready to defend himself. As it was, the forest was extremely beautiful. Everything was lush, everything smelled fresh, only the sound of swords and clubs smashing against shields, and biting into demi-human and monster flesh were keeping this area from becoming a utopia. Maybe, if they pushed these creatures back far enough, the adventurers, or the NPCs, would be able to claim this area as their own, and the city could expand. He heard a scream, as he stumbled upon a trail in the woods, and a canvassed wagon, owned by People of The Land, was being set upon by a diverse group of demi-humans and monsters. Shiro watched as the fight unfolded, a lady and her father in the back of the wagon, while two presumed caravan guards defended, however they were being over run. How could Shiro The Elven Samurai stand back and watch these monsters destroy these people's livelihood?

He couldn't call himself a Samurai.

Shiro drew his Nodachi, and sprinted forward, placing himself in the middle of the mob of monsters, and smashed the hilt of his Nodachi into his palm, issuing an AOE taunt. "I'll hold them off, you get them out!" He shouted over towards the caravan guards as he went on the defensive, he back pedaled, while parrying and attempting to counter-slash, although he could feel his HP dropping, he disengaged, and he delivered an overhead slash, a Helm Splitter, and it missed the head narrowly, instead biting into the shoulder of the goblin, he wrenched his sword back, and activated another defensive ability to help him sustain a fight against these goblins. His taunt was on cool down for another two seconds, but he couldn't stop this fight for the animation for the taunt to finish for two seconds, he would be destroyed, so as he was set upon, he activated his third ace-move. Denkosekka, increasing his movement speed, he ran circles in between the goblins and other creatures he did not have time to readily identify.

As he was doing this, the two caravan guards safely evacuated the man and his daughter, and rejoined the fray with Shiro, who had successfully let his health regenerate for the previous fifteen seconds against the five or six goblins that were left, he stood between the two caravan guards. His sword, their shields, and he panted, during this brief, albeit desired pause in combat. After three seconds of staring each other down, the goblin party realized that they had a numerical advantage, and they set upon the three of them, with Shiro activating Valor Guard, intercepting damage for one of them. Shiro's inexperience showed, with his lack of cool down management, he wanted to disengage, if not for his sake, then for his allies sake, and as they started to step back slowly, keeping the goblins at sword length, there was a shadow of movement, so quick the Samurai wasn't even sure he had really seen it, and as if they had never existed, the goblin party was destroyed, a sole Adventurer(?) stood in their place. She chuckled, as the younger adventurer lowered his weapon.

"Thank you." He sighed, as the two guards also expressed their thanks, departing shortly after to go tend to their wards, he took this time to look over this person. Level 20, Assassin. Either they were really good at this game, or there was trickery afoot.

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[Shiro]

Shiro's weapon was aimed downward, the end of his sword just barely an inch above the ground, as if he had forgotten about it, held loosely in his right hand. As the two caravan guards left, giving both the young Samurai, and the older Assassin their thanks. "If you're going to hold the weapon of a Samurai, you should hold it properly, or keep it sheathed. There is no in between, unless you are dead or dying." Shiro suddenly became self aware, and sheathed his Nodachi, putting the sword back in its place across his back. "Thanks for the advice." He said, learning how to work the menu in the game, no, this world, he discovered that this person's name was 'Alkinaereth'. Yet he still was not sure how this person could be so high a level. Maybe she had woken up before him, and had played the game before it became reality? It was all really confusing to him. Instead, she stood over him, her green eyes studying him, blonde hair tied up, out of her way. She seemed to be an all-business type of person. That was something the Adventurer could respect.

"Your desire to help others is admirable, but your usage of your abilities is mediocre at best. If you're going to fight, then fight, if you're not going to fight, then don't fight, that would have gone better if you had engaged as a group, instead of you trying to hold them off. Your subclass is Bodyguard, is it not?" She took a breath, and cracked her neck. "You can use Valor Guard to protect your team while you fight. You don't need to make yourself a sacrificial lamb. You are not a lamb, you are a warrior. Do you understand?" Shiro, listened, albeit his pride rued being lectured on how to handle a fight as a Samurai by an Assassin, but he could see the truth in her words. She was more experienced than him, and experience was everything.

The slightly awkward period of silence following her question made Shiro remember that she indeed expected a response from him, before she would continue, and he looked up at her expectant face. "Uhh, yes. I understand." She nodded her head. "Good. You also need to learn to analyze before you fight. Unless you have someone to do it for you, you need to think ahead, sure, you can fight one immobile goblin, but what if his cavalry arrives, and suddenly you're facing that one useless goblin, a hob goblin, and a dire wolf? Then you die. The end. Think for yourself. You are not a demi-human, you are a human, and you have the ability to reason." Again, Shiro saw the truth in her words. While harsh, she meant well.

However, he really needed to know something.

"Excuse me, I read from the menu option, that your name was Alkinaereth. You know a lot about this world..are you-" He stopped talking as she interrupted him, "an adventurer? No. I am a Person of the Land." That explains it. Of course, if they had all been put in the world at the same time, there was no possible way Miss Alkinaereth could have leveled up that fast. No one could, really. It seemed impossible. "Wait..why are you helping me?" He asked, the question seemed imploring, as he slowly began to regain his confidence. This Assassin had no reason to help him at all.

"Good question, however, I have to answer your question with a question. Why did you help those Caravan guards?" Shiro hardly waited before retorting, "well they needed my help, that was obvious was it not?" She chuckled, "and to me, it seems quite obvious that you need my help. Look around you, you're one of the only ones who isn't walking around aimlessly like an idiot who lost his job a couple days ago and started drowning himself in alcohol. Honestly, I just lied to you. I'm not helping you because you need my help, I'm helping you because you deserve it. There is a difference.

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