[IC] Living in Aincrad: a SAO RP

[FujiwaraPhoenix]

Ayame bit her lip, seemingly in a bit of thought before responding to Umichi.

"I... I've never really liked thieves, no matter what form they came in. Characters like Robin Hood were okay, but at the same time everything was corrupt and that made things fine. This isn't one of those exceptions, though. There is no 'law' in this world, only rules dictating how it 'should' be played. Nor were those thief's acts justifiable. I had lost about 1000 col when he had pickpocketed me, which would have set me behind everyone else if Hideki hadn't caught him. I still don't trust his methods or motives for trying to join us, and listening to the arguments leads me to believe that it'd be better to get him going and leave him be afterwards. We shouldn't try to associate with him any further if you're striving for the raid parties... At least. I think that's what they were called, I think. If you can keep him separated from Hideki, it'd probably be easier to repair the issues between the people we have in the party as of now. In that regard, it's fine... Just don't get caught or anything while he still has the orange indicator, or else guilt by association might occur. He looks a bit naive, but I don/t think he'd survive with us, and I fear for his safety in that regard." she said, voicing hers opinion to Umichi. Regardless if Hideki was against it, neither extreme action would have been very beneficial. The only half-decent solution would be... Well, it was the only meaningful option that should be followed up on." she said, twiddling her thumbs and glancing at the doorway every few minutes, hoping that she would't have be the one to calm down Fujiwara after this whole mess resolved. Regardless of how close they were, it was... Unnatural to see him this aggravated.

[Little_ninja]

*Sigh*
Umichi sighed, feeling a bit exhausted about the situation. She's put some personal feeling in it, but she's thought things through it seems. "Alright, thanks for that. I guess, I have to try settle things with that guy ... Still ... with the partying? I will have to deal with it later. Let's just go inside. Oh, for today, there's nothing we have to do, so everyone can do whatever they want. If anyone wishes to go out, just be sure to let someone else know first. Let the others know okay? I'm going wait and deal with that guy." he smiled, wryly, at Ayame, opening the door for her.

Following her inside, Umichi couldn't get into the cheery mood. He was mentally fatigued due to this incident. Sitting down near Paka, he spoke, "His not going to join us, but, I am gonna probably take him to the field and get him to learn to fight properly. Unless you want to do that. Oh, and by the way, we are all free to do what we like for the rest of today, but if you want to go out to the field, tell someone at least." Umichi looked over at him, getting his reply.

Afterwards, he looked over to the items. Hm... he flicked through his menu, although he didn't have any real points in it, since he never really needed to change equipment, he equipped the <<Equipment Appraisal>> skill. This wasn't a skill he wanted to master in a hurry or anything. Touching the gloves, each had the same detail. Flicking through the menu for the guide book, he looked in one of the more recent pages. As I thought. These are probably going to disappear. "Some equips recently made have been bugged, possibly due to some weapons not found originally in the game, such as scythes ..." Umichi though, as he read part of the guide book. *sigh* Tapping the Silver Katana, his eyes were bewildered. The stats were too high when compared to the other items, it was supposedly incredibly durable. The strength requirement was low, and there was some sort of ridiculously stupid extra ability for more damage to "dark creatures".

Umichi held his head in his hand. The gloves were definitely broken, and he was suspicious of the katana, but didn't expect it to be something so ridiculous. There was one way to test if the katana was real or not. First, he changed the skill <<Equipment Appraisal>> to <<Katana>>, then he stood up, holding the katana in his right hand. Only Paka was around to see, and due to the noisy music, Umichi pretty much ignored all sound. Holding the katana above him, he grabbed his Anneal Blade and held it out in front. Because it was a little dark inside, some people probably noticed the glow of the katana. Cutting down onto his Anneal Blade, a loud crack could be heard and a bang could be heard following it.

The cracked piece of blade flew out towards the thief, hitting him square in the forehead, causing him to fly back a bit. The piece of blade that flew out was from the katana. It was a fake. His suspicions were cleared. In a normal situation, with such stats on the katana, his Anneal Blade should of broken. He has seen someone else trying this out. They were testing another sword on his sword, and his sword broke, and bought the other weapon. Putting his Anneal Blade back into it's sheath on his back, after the Silver Katana shattered and disappeared, he then realised something .... "Oops ...." he said. The table which the gloves were on just recently .... was cut clean in half from his <<Vertical>>. Unsure what to do, Umichi decided to wait and see the responses he got from everyone there.

[MarshiestMallow]

Suki tired quicker then she would have of she wasn't carrying Timi, but it was worth it to see the girl smile and laugh. It gave Suki hope that Timi would be alright in this world. She would be safer in the Town of Beginnings, maybe not psychologically and emotionally, but physical, but Suki wouldn't make Timi go back there. If she was happy with them, Suki was sure it would all work out. She set Timi down, taking one f her hands in hers, looking about. Fujiwara had gone upstairs it seemed, and Suki sighed.

She saw Umichi with Paka, and wondered what they were going to decided about the thief. Suki, always looking for the best in people, approached the thief, keeping herself between him and Timi. "I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm Suki" she said "it would be better to have a name, rather then just keeping on refering to you as the "thief"." She said with a smile, and then flinched, as the piece of blade flew passed her her hand going to her Raiper at the loud crack and bang, looking about, wided eyed, seeing Umichi and Paka by two halves of a table.

Timi had pressed herself against Suki at the noise, but wasn't shaking. She stared, and said softly "my mother says breaking stuff is bad, but it's okay of it was an accident, as long as you apologise. I know they may just be NPCs, but...this is their work? We can still be nice to them" Suki looked down at her and smiled, nodding

Paka looked up as Umichi joined him, nodded and sighed "I'll take him out. Better me, I think you'll be better trying to mend things with Fujiwara and Ayame. And then there's the kid-you're going to have to figure out what to do with her, how we are going to fight and protect her" he said as he watched Umichi appraise the items the thief had brought.

It was obvious Umichi had figured something out about the items and Paka sighed again, thinking t was going to reflect badly on the kid, watching as Umichi stood with the Katana and his Annael blade, and brought it down on the katana, breaking it.

In the silence that followed, Paka couldn't help it. He laughed, "talk about subtle" he said in amusement, nudging a piece of the table, shaking his head "I think you have to repair the table or something now"

[Jangel13]

Angelo groaned softly noticing he got hit with the piece of blade that hit his head, thank god for the safe zones since he only felt a bump on his forehead "okay, im really glad we cant feel pain here" Angelo groaned rubbing his forehead and looking to see that the blade was the katana he got for the jerk that was broken "oh come on! why does everything I do back fire!" Angelo said softly rubbing his forehead in annoyance understanding now why it was so cheap at the market. The blade durability was no better then a piece of freaking wood! No matter how hard Angelo tried to be friends with these people something just had to happen to set all his progress back to the beginning now they probably think that he was trying to give bogus equipment to the guy as a pack back or something but they wont even bother to think that Angelo was just ignorant about it. The blade he understood but he had no idea why the gloves were broken to even if he got those from a different vendor they shouldn't have been destroyed so easily. Angelo looked to see that he completed the quest announcement at least and got the xp and col now Angelo smiled again seeing he got to level 4 now as he sat down next to paka to try and put his points into his agility first with 2 points and his strength with the last one

[FujiwaraPhoenix]

Ayame re-entered the inn just as Umichi swung the <<Silver Katana>> at the table, and watched as he broke the katana and the table in the process. Smiling a bit at the reactions from everyone that noticed, she took a seat at the table where she had placed what she hoped would be that day's meal. Sighing, she took a bowl of her stew in hand and tasted a bit of it.

"It's not bad at all... The vegetables and the beef seem to come together quite well. It's a bit sweet for a stew, but it tastes quite nice regardless." she said, smiling. Looking at everyone else, she sighed at what seemed to be a wasted effort. All that food she had cooked... Well, it was still warm, at least. It seemed as if no one else had noticed the food either, which was... Depressing, to say the least. The lively atmosphere of the inn made things all the more awkward, though- there was only enough food left for the party's core established members, much less the two newcomers that had come in. Shaking her head and brushing aside those thoughts, she called over to Suki and the little kid that Umichi had brought back earlier.
"Hey, there's some food here if you want some! Hideki's probably still upset, so I'll be bringing some up to him in a bit. Can you help distribute the other four meals? The other four bowls of stew and the four other salads I had prepared are still pretty warm, so It'd be nice if you could get those to everyone." Ayame said as she placed her own bowl of stew on the table and took another bowl of stew and a salad and added them to her inventory. Carefully dodging the dancing partygoers, she made her way up to the inn's second floor and walked over to Fujiwara's room. Knocking on the door, Ayame stood there, waiting for a response.
"Who is it?" Fujiwara asked, his voice sounding relatively dead as he spoke.
"It's Ayame. I'm here with some food for you." she responded. Behind the door, a few footsteps could be heard before Fujiwara opened the door. Smiling, Ayame took the two bowls of food from her inventory and handed them off to Fujiwara.
"Thanks... I guess." he said before re-entering his room and attempting to close the door behind him. As he tried to do so, Ayame quickly held the door open before sighing.
"Are you alright, Hideki?"
"I'm fine, just leave me be for now. Now's not the time for trying to comfort me. Not in the mood."
"Ah... Erm, alright then. Oh, Umichi said that we've got the day off today."
"That's good to know. See you later then."

As the door closed on Ayame, she shook her head in distaste and walked back to the table. Sitting down in her seat, she sighed and looked back up the stairs.
"He's going to be like that for a while, isn't he...?" she asked herself before sighing and closing her eyes to think about the situation as it was now.

[Little_ninja]

With some chuckling from Paka and a little lecturing from Timi, Umichi laughed aloud, "HAHAHAHA! Who would of thought ... a katana with fake stats, when broken, could cut a table clean in two. Anyway, either I gotta pay, or it will magically repair itself. In fact, since it belonged to an NPC, I'm surprised it wasn't an <<Immortal Object>>." he then took a good look at the table, "Wow, right in two. They are symmetrical halves. Oh, I will tell that guy about our decision, and about the items." he said the first bit aloud and then spoke softly so only Paka will hear about the other bit. Walking up to the NPC of the Maiden Inn, George, Umichi apologized, the NPC then told him off, "What do you think you are doing swinging a thing like that in here!?"
"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't even make a full swing. How can I repay you?"
"Well, you can pay me back the 2000 col it cost me."
Wow .... that's quite a bit for this stage of the game He thought to himself, completing the transaction. Guess I should sell my spare Anneal Blade soon.

After finishing with the NPC he saw Ayame coming back down to sit. "Well, guess he will be up there for a while, huh? Anyway, thanks for the food, but I think I'll eat a bit later, if you don't mind." Umichi told her, looking up the stairs and then walking pass. He approached Yui. "Why you just sitting around for? There's a dance party going on! Anyway, everyone is free for the day, no plans. Just if you plan to go out to the field, let someone know." Placing a hand on Yui's shoulder as he went pass her, telling her about what was the rest of the day's plans.

Walking up to the thief, he spoke to him, "I want to ask you one main thing. I will tell you this now though. You will not be joining us, but, Paka over there is willing to help train you for the day." Umichi pointed with his thumb over his shoulder to Paka. "Anyway, how were you able to get into the market to buy those items, when you went orange about three and a half hours ago. That must of been your second offense and there is no way for you to get there being orange within the the two hours it must of been for you to get the items. I don't think you had the intention of giving bugged items, but you clearly know hardly a thing about SAO. Those stats were absurd, and the bonuses were fake. Items like that have been disappearing suddenly, probably due to a system check. So, exactly how did you obtain those items, that you so called bought, when there is no way for you to have gotten into the market without someone noticing your orange indicator? After you tell me, go to Paka, and ask him when he will take you, cause I have no clue what he plans to do to train you." he waited for an answer from the thief, realizing he never got a proper name from him.

[Jangel13]

Angelo sighed a little taking a shaky breath feeling so upset about ruining his chance to get real friends for the first time and he said " I want to stress the fact that I did buy them with my own money and all the money I had I might add. Your right that I don't know much about this game considering what an idiot I was to think I could get items that would mean that I wanted to make things up to you guys. I went to the rooftops because most npc's and players wont really look up and I found an armor smith I knew from the real world and he gave me the gloves but I went into the market square to get the sword and I bought it from an old merchant I knew nothing about and just thought the sword would be a good way to prove to your friend that im a good person and I was serious about a peace offering. I had no idea the items were bugged because I never played a game like this but I still love the game regardless." Angelo took another shaky breath and sighed a little as he patted the guys shoulder and said "my name is Angelo Ortega level 4 spear holder, and lock picker."

Angelo sighed softly and once the man knew his name he went over to the man named paka "when do you leave? im ready whenever your ready." Angelo said softly wanting to just leave and go to kill something to get rid of his happy sadness and avoid making a scene. Since only paka would bother trusting Angelo he would try to make a friend with him at the very least, since they always said one good friend was worth 100 acquaintances

[MarshiestMallow]

Suki finished off the dance party with Timi, trying to get some information out of the girl, such as how she had gotten to Tolbana. she spoke of how she ended up in a group, and that when they got to tolbana, they ditched her, leaving her at the mercy of older kids, or immature teenagers. The girl had had it rough, it seemed, and Suki just wanted to give Timi some happiness here in the game. She quickly helped to give food out to everyone, putting it at a table so everyone could sit and talk, but saw Paka and Angelo leave, so she put Pakas in her inventory, thinking it should still be good for later, as she thought about what they would have to do.

She thought they first needed to make sure that she could survive out the safe zones, so when Umichi had finished with the theif, Angelo as she overheard, she said "I think we need to get Timi some good gear, and maybe take her out somewhere to get her level up a bit"

Timi spoke up, "I have col. right now, 7k col. There's these small jobs you can do for some NPC's, cleaning, or organising their stock, things like that, that they are happy to pay for" It was another way for her to stay out of sight of those that would be mean to her, and it gave her something to do. "So I can buy things. I just don't know what" She looked at them both, giving them a smile.

---

Paka waited as Angelo came over to him, and rose, starting out the inn, "We'll go to an area where the spawning is high, and train. We'll see how we many levels we can grind for you" He said, assuming Angelo was following. He did stop to get a few supplies, including transport crystals, giving one to Angelo, before heading out the town, to an area to train.

There was a cluster of Frenzy boar, and Paka said, "I have the <<howl>> Ability, so I'll draw them to me, and you can pick them off, okay?" He said to Angelo, his Katana in hand, ready to fight, "Your health gets low, or you can't fight anymore, yes the teleport crystal"

[Jangel13]

Angelo nodded a little as he took the crystals and followed him towards the spawning grounds. Angelo didn't care at this point but that didn't mean he couldn't take advantage of someone trying to help him considering it was the only person in the group that bothered to want to help Angelo even if it was only for training for a day. This could be Angelo chance to show that he could be a good ally in the field of battle by proving he could evade and draw in the enemies while the others could kill the target.

Once they got to the spawning ground Angelo took out his spear "lets just get to killing, when I get a high enough level not even a boss will be able to hit me" Angelo said determined to be an untouchable fighter with great evasions skills, with his spear it would help since he could use it to vault over his enemies and avoid a large attack- even end up behind the beast to do some bonus backstab damage to them but that's if Angelo will survive long enough to be that good...

[MarshiestMallow]

Paka rolled his eyes "kid, the bosses get tougher as we go up the levels. That's why being in a team is important" he activated his <<howl>> ability, drawing the Frenzy boar towards him, he managed to keep out of their reach, so that Angelo could pick them off one by one. "You need to focus on your agility, in my opinion, with being a spear user. It has a good reach, so you should be able to stay out of most monsters reach, except maybe bosses" he said, as he attacked a Frenzy boar that got too close with <<Tsujikaze>> and killing it with one hit.

"You need to have a good collection of gear-I would go with light weight armor for you since you should focus on agility and typically spear players don't need to be weighed down by heavy gear. Go for leather armor." He kept on moving, staying out of the Frenzy Boars reach. "Have some health potions too. You can't have too many of them. There's plenty of easy quests out there, so do them, they give experience and col"

[Jangel13]

Health potions I already knew about" Angelo said since he was accepting the knowledge about everything else as Angelo started his charge towards the frenzy boar going after paka and his spear head glowed green as Angelo got close to the beast and started his <<jab>> spear ability as Angelo gave a quick three jab attack hitting the beast three times on its side making its health bar flash red. Then when the beast turned its attention towards Angelo, Angelo started to dock and evade the boar's attacks and lunges as Angelo waited for his cooldown marker to go down which thankfully only took 30 seconds before he used <<jab>> again but his last strike hit empty air as it only took two for the frenzy boar to go down and Angelo took the col and xp from the monster. "lets keep it going. If I kill enough of these things ill be able to get a better spear and switch out my cloth for leather" Angelo said simply to paka waiting for him to use another <<Howl>> and bring in some more boars

[MarshiestMallow]

"Change abilities, if you can when you are fighting. That way you can use a attack, then attack with a different one, while the other one cools down" Paka said, as he watched Angelo fight the Frenzy Boars, "You should also think about getting a health crystal-they have unlimited use, and have a cool down affect, but otherwise, they are better then potions and can be used if you are desperate" He said, as he once more activated his <<Howl>> ability, drawing more Frenzy Boar to him, and even a Dire Wolf.

he once more danced out the way, keeping clear of any attacks from the creatures, "Attack faster, quicker, and try and take more down if you can" Paka said, as he took a minute to remove himself from the party for now, and join up with Angelo, sending a PM to the group to tell them what he was doing, sensing a few Little Nepents in the area. It was a precaution, just in case Paka had to jump in, it would give Angelo more experience, and level him up faster as well.

[Jangel13]

Angelo was now in full swing as he got his blood bumping and he was grinning like an idiot "lets party!" Angelo said grinning as he charged the boars and dire wolf. Angelo first aimed for the frenzy boar and his spear glowed a familiar green again as he started his <<jab>> this time it killed the boar when his third strike hit the boars weak point of its forehead, Angelo went for the boar that was right after it and Angelo first dodged and swerved to the side to avoid the boars charge. Then when Angelo saw the dire wolf come after him Angelo charged and instead his spear glowed a dark red as he started his next attack <<Tsukisasu>> his most powerful spear attack and although it would weaken Angelo spear durability he knew it would make killing the dire wolf a lot quicker and when the dire wolf got close Angelo again swerved to the side to avoid its charge and he completed the action sending the spear through the wolf making it go down to the yellow in its health bar.

As Angelo kept fighting he was distracted and got hit by the boar he avoided before going after the dire wolf and his health bar went down to yellow and Angelo was forced to drink his health potion before he started his next attack on the boar and his spear glowed blue this time as he began the attack: <<Pawāsutoraiku>> as the spear went through the boar and it shattered into pieces. Then the only enemy was the weakened dire wolf as Angelo charged the dire wolf again and started his finish as he began the <<jab>> and hit the boar the 3 times he needed as the dire wolf was destroyed. However Angelo wasted the last of his stamina in the attacks making him fall to the ground on his knees panting softly and weakened his spear but at least he did it by himself proving that he was a great asset in a fight even if he was using a spear....

[Little_ninja]

With the thief, Angelo, passing by him, Umichi turned to Suki who was saying to help Timi. Timi had told them she had 7k col. Umichi looked over the little girl, looking at her current equipment. Flicking through his menu, he then stated with a smile, "Well, you probably only need some armor. This was dropped not long ago for me." He sent her a short sword of reasonable stats in a trade. From the looks of it, it would be quite a bit better than her current one, since his had one of those dropped before, so he was familiar with the stats. Looking towards Suki, he whispered, "I think I'll let you handle her for now. There's something I want to check in the Labyrinth. Well ... someone really .... but yeah." With a slightly wry smile at Suki, he then turned to Timi. "Suki, the Onee-san here, will help you buy armor. This Onii-san has something he needs to check out, but he will be back soon okay?" He had a big smile, to reassure her. Putting his hand on her head, patting/rubbing it gently. "I should be back soon. Oh ... and mind if we train toni ..." Oh right, I almost forgot. He cleared his throat and started again. "I will be back soon," Umichi then leaned closer to Suki, speaking gently and softly, "Mind if we have a little date tonight once I am back?" Before getting a clear answer, he backed off, winked at Suki and called out to Suki and Timi, "I'll be back soon." Giving a short wave.

Walking pass Yui, "Just to let you know, I'm off to check something out." Umichi informed her, continuing on to Ayame. "I'll be having this now." He grabbed a bowl of stew with meat and vegetables. Well, that's what it looked like. Considering the way the game was made, the taste-simulating engine made things have one look while with another taste. It was rather sweet, more like a watered down pudding with chocolate textured bits that tasted similar to a durian. It wasn't bad, but it was more like a dessert than a dinner. "It's good, but ... rather sweet Ayame. Anyway, thanks, I'm off to check some stuff out, laters!" With that, he left the inn and decided to head to the Labyrinth again. The time was about 1815. He planned to be back before 2030. For now, he wanted to look for the black hooded figure from before, to confirm their weapon of choice.

Just after wandering around in the labyrinth for a little while, having killed a few Ruin Kobold Troopers, Paka had sent a message telling them why he has left the party. Umichi sent a message back, while easily evading the enemies, and attacking back with ease. It read "Isn't it more beneficial for him if you weren't in his party? The exp and col won't be divided, given he is the one killing/doing all of the damage to the enemies. Well, if you are killing some too, maybe it is better to party with him. Well, just tell me when you want to join back." He was still in the first floor, following his path to reach the second and sequentially third floor. I wonder if I can reach him at all Umichi pondered as he wandered the Labyrinth.

[FujiwaraPhoenix]

Ayame smiled a bit nervously at Umichi mentioned that the stew was sweet.
"So it seems that appearance doesn't equate to normal tastes here. That's good to know, I guess." she thought to herself as she finished her own. It really was more like a snack than an actual meal, but in the end every little bit of experience helped her get closer to perfection. Watching as Umichi left, Ayame slowly ate her own food before opening up her character menu and saving a note to herself. Writing down the ingredients that she used and the way she prepared the food, she saved the note and turned to the remaining party members there.

"Erm... Did anyone, by any chance, see a library in town? I think that it'd be best to let Hideki cool down a bit, and I think that gathering information from such a place might be a good idea. If there is one, it's more likely than not either going to be completely deserted or filled to the brim, and I'd much rather know now that later." she asked, smiling at them all in hopes of an answer. Since she didn't ordinarily play video games, reading books would her go-to source of entertainment (mainly because mindlessly grinding wasn't exactly all that fun).

[MarshiestMallow]

Paka watched Angelo continue to fight, ready to jump in at a moments notice, and held his katana loosely at his side. He looked to Umichi's reply, and sent back with a soft sigh I detected nepents, and seeing as I can see them now, one with a fruit on its head, I thought it wise to team up, and take the fruit down, and its spawn quickly. It seemed like the smartest thing to do, and Paka could take the nepent and its spawn down.

He turned to Angelo, "The one with the fruit on its head will spawn at least 50 more nepents, so be wary. I'll help out here because of that, which is why I teamed up with you, you'll get half the experience as well, so just stay behind me, and deal with any that get passed. You aren't ready to take them on by yourself" He said, turning to the Nepent with the fruit, and launched himself at it, activating his <<howl>> ability.

It didn't take him long to kill the nepent, and release its spawn, and then he began to attack, drawing the Little Nepent's towards him, and changing between <<Tsumujiguruma>>, <<Hiogi>> and Gengetsu. He cut through the numbers quickly, receiving some damage, but nothing serious.

---

Suki thought it was dangerous to go off into the Labyrinth alone, but she knew Umichi could handle himself-it wouldn't stop her constantly looking at his status, but it was reassuring. Then he asked for a date, and before she could ansswer, he had gone, but she still called out, "See you tonight", before looking down to Timi, who gave a sigh, but smiled. Timi was sure that Umichi was going to try and find the mean-guy that had just told her which direction to go, and nothing else. "Come on" Suki said, grabbing Timi' hand, she started out to the merchant's.

She stopped when Ayame said about a library, and frowned, "I'm not too sure if there is one. But merchant's sell books here" She said, "'I'm taking Timi to get some armor, I'll be back soon. Hopefully Fujiwara doesn't mope for too long" She said goodbye to Ayame, heading otu with Timi. She walked with Timi happily for a while, stopping at some stores, and searching for some armor, as Timi studied the new blade Umichi had sent her.

Suki smiled, and found some armor for Timi, something light weight, but still durable and suitable for her, then she spent some time simply walking with the girl, before heading back to the inn.

[Jangel13]

Angelo did as he said and stayed begins him knowing he needed to recharge his stamina before he could try to take on this many enemies at once even more so considering most his moves were meant fire single enemies and only one skill was meant to be used for crowd control anyway. He stayed behind and as paka guess some tried to surround him by getting behind him but Angelo was able to use <<jab>> to pick them off and keep them away from paka flanks knowing that at the very least paka would think that Angelo was an adept fighter in the very least

[MarshiestMallow]

Paka moved swiftly, continuing to take down the swarm of Nepents, changing between the three attacks keeping them attracted to him by his <<howl>> abilty. It wasn't that long by the time the swarm was taken down, and Paka let out a slow breath, drinking a health potion as a precaution.

He turned to Angelo, "well, that should have given you a good amount of experience," he glanced towards the time, seeing that they had been out there for a while, a good few hours as the time clicked over to 1930. "We should head back to town, it isn't wise to stay out a night, and you've gone green again" he sighed.

Paka ran a hand through his hair, "you need to go straight, kid. One more wrong move, and you won't be able to go into town until you undertake the redone room quest which you can only do twice. Then you can never enter the town or safe zones. Do you understand what that means? Death. You need the safe zones at night. Never forget that" Paka said as he started back towards Tolbana. "I'll help you get your spear fixed and enhanced, give you some potions, some col, and help you choose some equipment and show you how to appraise items so you don't get a crappyndeal like with the katana and gloves"

[Jangel13]

Angelo sighed softly seeing that a good chunk of experience thanks to the battle and Angelo started to follow paka back and nodded as he started taking "please my name is Angelo Ortega. I really appreciate the help I really do I just want to have people to trust and have fun with like at the tavern earlier. I don't want to just survive here I want to truly live here. Even if it's only a partner to switch in and out with in battle I'll be happy and even more happy then in the real world" Angelo said the last part softly as he followed him back. Angelo never had real friends because he couldn't go to have fun with people or do things other people could because if his back and that always made Angelo miserable thinking he never had a real friend, he turned to stealing cause he had no choice being a low level but at least he can go straight until he can find a friend that actually wants to be Angelo friend and partner. he had skills that could help against a boss but nobody would think twice about it, Angelo goal is to have the highest evasion rate in the game and make sure that any heavy attack can be easily missed

[Little_ninja]

"Alright, just be careful." Umichi replied after getting Paka's message. He had reached where he had ended up before, on the third level of the Labyrinth. Hm... I wonder if there are secret areas and what not here. Pondering as he walked through the floor. The first area he went into was a dead-end. The map was much more complex here. But he managed to reach the 4th floor. Managing to kill about 28 Ruin Kobold Troopers along the way. Checking his experience, it was still rising a bit on the slow side. The congratulations box said something about 52 exp and 85 col. His level was high enough that the exp was fairly reduced.

Moving along, he had helped out a group that got surrounded, finishing off most of the Ruin Kobold Troopers with ease and helping the people out. "Might you be the guy who's been helping people out all over? But your not in black ...." They were asking him. "Nah, different guy. I have been helping people out, but don't wear all black. I am kind of looking for the guy wearing all black."
"But you were able to take out all those Ruin Kobold Troopers with ease! No-one should be able to clear a group like that by themselves."
"So you are surprised I am able to, but if I were the guy wearing all black, you wouldn't be?" Umichi just laughed lightly.
"Well, whatever. You guys should go back to town or to an earlier level. There seems to be larger groups on this floor." he continued.
"Thanks for saving us!" they mentioned leaving to go back to the earlier stages of the Labyrinth.

Finally, it was 1945, and he reached the 5th level. He was lucky that he didn't encounter any dead ends this time. This maze is crazy Umichi thought, looking through the route he took. It seemed subsequent floors were bigger and more complex. Turning right, he found a treasure chest. But it had already been opened it seemed. Looking around, he then heard more screams. Umichi dashed to the area he heard them from. There was a mix of enemies. Some Ruin Kobold Troopers and some Giant Spiders. Typical of a dungeon-like area he thought. The Giant Spiders' indicators were of a darker shade than the Troopers. Striking one through it's abdomen, he was able to kill it in one hit, however, the next one, he didn't get to kill it in one hit, when he hit the thorax. Dealing about 75% of the Giant Spider's health, it looked like he wasn't going to be able to one hit kill them. Finishing it off, he dashed through and killed off the Ruin Kobold Troopers first, and then turned to the Giant Spiders. Some were already approaching the group of people. Suddenly a Giant Spider was lifted, and flung into the group of Giant Spiders. It wasn't enough to kill them, but they were temporarily stunned and the group ran away. Umichi finished off most of the Giant Spiders quickly, knowing that he had come. The exp he gained from them were much more decent, 95 exp and 130 col each to the ones he dealt the full damage to. Still a reduced amount, huh ... He thought to himself.

Turning around, he saw the black figure. The man started to walk away, when Umichi called out to him. "Hey, you use those gloves don't you?" The black figured turned to him, and pointed at Umichi. Swinging his blade up in front of him, Umichi turned around and cut down into a Giant Spider which was behind him, taking a step around and cut again. The black clothed man peered at Umichi, studying him. Then he spoke in his deep voice, "Who knows? Well, I'm sure I'll be seeing you around." His tone seemed happy, as he continued to walk away. It was approaching 2000. Well, I just confirmed it. Someone can actually use that. Satisfactorily, Umichi got his answer, and started to leave.

With all he had done, he was approaching 60% of his exp. He had done a lot, but still, it was tough at the moment. He was approaching what would be the level cap for the first floor it seemed. The exp reduction is starting to get severe, everything that wasn't in the Labyrinth, save the Large Nepents, or Quest Monsters, which were hard to come by, he was getting at most 10 exp by himself and at most 2 exp in the party. Getting out of the Labyrinth, it was 2015. He was rather tired now, from the running he did to reach the entrance in about 15 minutes from the 5th floor of the Labyrinth.

Taking his time to get back to town, he cut down any stray monsters or groups that came at him. Without realizing, he cut into a Little Nepent with a fruit. So a lot more came out. But he just stayed as he was, cutting them away, with ease. There were countlessly many of them, but the exp he got was pretty small, accumulating another about 3-4% meaning he got just past 70%. Walking in this manner, killing off a few more groups of enemies, he reached Tolbana. It was 2050. Later than he planned.

Recovering from his fatigue, Umichi was looking forward to his date with Suki. Sending a message to her, he asked, "Are you free now?" While waiting for a reply, he strolled around a while.