//------------------------------// // Episode 3 - Leader // Story: EQG: Sword Art Online - Aincrad // by Mindrop //------------------------------// Floor 1 November 8 They arrived at Media after another tough day of fighting. They each had gotten up to Level 5 from their race to get to the village. It was bigger than Horunka by quite a bit, with a decent town square surrounded by stone walled, thatch roofed buildings. They rented rooms in the Inn, ate at a tiny pub, and crashed. The next morning they headed out to fight in the field once again. The goal was to "grind" Experience and Col in an effort to get as far as they could in the area. Astro and Knightstar deemed it far enough ahead of the rest of the players to gain a good amount of XP quickly. Bladescape charged the giant boar and activated Vertical Arc, slicing up through the boar's hide. It exploded in a splash of polygons and it gave Bladescape a moment to catch her breath. All around in the fields they were tag teaming these giant boars. The biggest advantage they were gaining wasn't XP or Col, it was the tactics. They had learned a lot from the Little Nepenthes, but that was a very tough fight where they were trying to kill as many of them as possible. Now they could focus on the switching tactics and getting their tanks to properly position themselves. It was grueling and boring work, but all of them could train their weapons. Astro's spear was very effective and Diemond's mace and Backbreaker's hammer dealt critical damage to the boar's heads with ease. "Spawning Boar!" Knightstar said, bringing Bladescape back to reality. It didn't take them long to kill the beast. Block, switch, strike, block, switch, strike, repeat. A window popped up and fanfare played as they leveled up again. Bladescape heard more fanfare and realized the other party had leveled up. That put them at level 6. They gathered together once again. "What should we do?" Diemond asked. "For our third skills." "There is nearly an unlimited number of skills," Knightstar said, reading the guidebook they had gotten at the Media General Store for free. Beta testers had been assembling the information. It was updating every few hours. "We need to pick skills that will either directly benefit combat or the guild," Astro advised. "If this was a…well a normal game, I would suggest doing whatever makes the game more fun for you. Still, some of you would do more combat oriented skills, others would find crafting more to your liking." "Ooo!” Diemond squealed. “Is there a skill for making better armor and clothes? Things that we can all look gorgeous in?" "They won't have sequins and rhinestone here," Bladescape warned Diemond. "Here it is," Knightstar said. "There are several different types of crafting skills for weapons, armor and clothes." "Yes!" Diemond exclaimed, clapping her hands and practically dancing. "Then I will make us all fabulous armor to start. Blue and Yellow for our colors." "Its probably going to take a while till you are high enough level to benefit us," Astro advised. "And if you are one of our tanks, we will need you out with us fighting more than crafting." "Oh, I'll find the time for both," Diemond said, waving it off. "I always do." "I call acrobatics!" Thunderborne declared. “It's not a competition," Bladescape smiled. "More than one of us could focus on the skills." "Oh!" AFCK exclaimed as she hopped around. Her menu window was forced to follow her like a puppy. "What is it AFCK?" Bladescape asked, chuckling. "Well, you know how the food here is so bland? I looked for baker, but there was no baker. Not yet at least, then I looked for chef but there was no chef then I said duh, and looked for sprinkles, but that was a no go too so I was scrolling along looking for taffy and found cooking as a skill. So I get to make us all tasty treats to eat in between fighting!" AFCK reached into her springy pink hair and then frowned. In this virtual world, there were none of her usual treats stashed in it. And most likely, she couldn't store any in there either. Even if she could, their durability would run out before she ate most of them. Bladescape was unsure how long some of her treats were stored in her hair. Rarity avoided the topic with Pinkie Pie entirely. "That gives us a cook and a craftsman," Bladescape said. "It's a long list of skills available. We don't have to set our next skill right now. It's better than having to reset one later." "Yes!” Astro exclaimed, playing with her menu. “Armor Pierce is unlocked. I’ll need that for my spear.” “Appraisal,” Knightstar absentmindedly said. “I think equipment appraisal is a good idea. It will let us know exactly what we get.” “Well would you look at that,” Backbreaker said scratching her head. “I have on my list this one called Extended Weight Carry.” “I don’t see that one,” Thunderborne said. “Why don’t I see it?” “I don’t see it in the list either,” Knightstar said. “I guess you got ahead in that respect.” “Its got to be strength based,” Astro added, sliding through her menu. “At this point, you have the best strength numbers out of all of us. Maybe Diemond is close.” “Its not on my list,” Diemond said, a bit disappointed. “Although I am not trying to be the strongest player. I am not a part of their silly feud.” They hunted giant boars for a few more hours and then went back to Media. After dinner, Thunderborne spoke up. “I think I am going to go for a run.” “What?” Bladescape said, the first to respond for all of their shock. “Yeah, this skill needs more practice. I’ll only run. Run and run, training the Sprint Skill so that I can go faster.” “I guess that makes sense,” Bladescape said. “Go ahead. Just stay out of trouble and don’t take any risks.” “I’m going to spend my money and start cooking!” AFCK exclaimed. “I guess this is where we separate a bit,” Knightstar said. “As long as we stay in town, we will be safe.” “Then I am off to find some materials,” Diemond said, clapping. Bladescape looked at her skill menu. She had plugged in Weapon Defense. It wasn’t something she could train in town. It was slightly different than Parry. Parry was offense oriented, while weapon defense was defense oriented. “Come on,” Astro said to Bladescape and Backbreaker. “Lets slip just outside of town, just enough to work on our new weapon skills.” “But. Isn’t that cheating?” Bladescape asked. “Yeah,” Backbreaker said. “We all said we would be staying together. As friends.” “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we should stop enhancing ourselves,” Astro argued. “Their non combat skills will get them Level XP as well. So we need to focus on what we can do. It’s going to be the three of us, plus Thunder, in the bulk of the fighting. I can tell by how we were grinding this afternoon as to who would fall into what roles. “As a guild, we can be well balanced. But balancing us too spread out won’t help clear this game. It’s not hard to get locked up in stuff like cooking and crafting, and let your combat skills slip. And the higher level we get, the harder it will be for them to do anything for us with lower level crafting. If we push ourselves individually, we can support the others on the higher floors by just being a little ahead of them. This is an MMORPG. None of you have played them enough to understand. Nothing is ever equal. You can always be stronger, faster, and better. Individual strength for us will only help the guild as a whole.” “Alright,” Bladescape said with a nod. She sent a message to the others, letting them know they were going to be training outside the village. The others quickly replied with the affirmative. As Sunset Shimmer struggled against a boar, which she was blocking with Weapon Defense by locking her sword out against it’s tusks, she realized that Astro was right. The stronger, the faster, and the better she could be, the strong the guild would be. She vowed to herself to train as long and as hard as she could, every day. Even if that meant forgoing some sleep. Sleep didn’t matter if one of her friends died. Fluttershy was becoming skilled with that knife, but she would need more to survive. Rainbow Dash would become a veteran swordswoman soon enough, but her focus on speed would require a strong partner to allow her to dart in and strike at the most opportune time. Astro was a big help, but she hadn’t abandoned the game part of the death game. She would be mentally compromised until she could overcome that block. AJ was going to be a strong Tank, but she was going to need an equally strong partner in any venture who could actually deal the damage while she blocked her friends from damage. Rarity was probably going to get distracted with making things, and Pinkie Pie was already distracted enough. Cooking was her focus in real life, cooking would be her focus here. Twilight was going to be calculating their risk and planning strategies too much. A valuable asset to the guild, but she was still meek when it came to engaging an enemy. It was up to Sunset Shimmer, Bladescape, to make sure her friends got out alive. It was up to her to make sure they all stayed together, as one. They were the Wondercolts, even Astro, and they needed a leader. They deserved the strongest leader Sunset Shimmer could make herself into. Sunset Shimmer didn’t like to lose. Bladescape (SS): Lvl 6 – One-Handed Sword – Search – Weapon Defense Knightstar (TS): Lvl 6 – One-Handed Sword – Shield – Equipment Appraisal Thunderborne (RBD): Lvl 6 – One-Handed Sword – Sprint – Agility Backbreaker (AJ): Lvl 6 – Shield – One-Handed War Hammer – Extended Weight Carry AFCK (PP): Lvl 6 – One-Handed Axe – Parry – Cooking Diemond (R): Lvl 6 – Shield – Mace – Armor Smith Doombunny (FS): Lvl 6 – Knife – First Aid – Hide Astro (PS): Lvl 6 – Short Spear - Purchase Negotiation – Armor Pierce