Episode 7 - Falling Flower
Seventh day in the Month of Cypress (November 7) in the Year of the Hawk
Floor 1 - Horunka
Sunset patiently waited for the others to wake up. She hadn’t been able to fall asleep. This whole getting trapped was a severe stressor. She felt like she was missing something, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. It was probably just her missing home.
The system allowed them to set personal alarms that no one else would hear, to help wake up and other things. Sunset’s would go off in two minutes. Then, it would be time for them to all grab breakfast and start the quest for the sword.
Her alarm went off in her own head only and Sunset sat up. She yawned involuntarily and it annoyed her. As soon as she tried to get up, her body cried for the very sleep it had denied her. Sunset stood up despite it and stretched. The others were still sleeping. She continued to stretch for a bit.
Sunset sighed. She didn’t want to wake them, but she had to. They had to get going in order to survive. She clapped loudly. “Alright, time to get up!”
Applejack snorted awake and sat up, grabbing her hammer. Twilight rolled over and promptly fell out of the tiny bed. Fluttershy just sighed, not moving.
“I know,” Sunset said. “Waking up here...let’s go get breakfast and then get moving on the day. The only way is...up. Forward and up.”
Applejack helped Twilight to her feet. “Come on, y’all. We ain’t really gotta choice. We’ve gotta get stronger, but we get to do it together.”
Sunset extended her hand to Fluttershy. She took it, hesitantly, and was guided out of bed. A knock came at the door and Applejack opened it. It was Natsuki.
“Good,” Natsuki nodded. “You four are up. It’s going to be a tough day, but we need to capitalize on what we can, while we are still ahead of the others. Before long, those creatures are going to be picked clean to get at the rare chance of the special flower for the quest. We can’t let that happen. If we are forced to wait for respawns, it will be a bad use of our time and it means no leveling up, which means less HP and more risk to us.”
“Right,” Sunset nodded. “We’re coming.”
They met in the attached tavern. Breakfast was cheap porridge, because that is what they could afford. It was a solid, albeit bland, way to start the day. Before they headed out, they temporarily disbanded their parties in order to be able to get the quest started for just the three of them. Otherwise, the others would have it listed as an open quest.
They followed Natsuki out into the quiet village. She stopped at the door of a house. “Go in and when she says she only has water to give, tell her water is fine. Ignore what she is cooking in the pot. You will hear a girl cough upstairs. It will trigger the quest. Her daughter is sick and she needs a flower for that medicine.”
Sunset stepped in first. A woman was stirring a pot in the kitchen. Like Natora had said, the woman claimed all she had was water to give to a tired adventurer. Sunset replied as instructed and the woman soon explained that she had a sick daughter, and would give up the family sword for the flower needed to save her daughter. Sunset agreed and the quest “Secret Medicine of the Forest” started.
Sunset stepped out and Twilight went inside. Some quests could be done by anyone and had no limits on the number of times it could be completed, others were one shot quests that only could be completed by one person or party. This one any player could do.
Rainbow Dash came out after starting the quest for herself. They set the parties back up and headed out into the forest.
“Remember, if it has a poison sack on the head, don’t pop it,” Natora reminded them. “The flowering one has a very low chance of spawning, the same rate as the poison sack, so that is to our benefit. Still, I spent hours trying to get the flowering one to appear and gave up. Also, remember that slash is the best attack and at the stalk.”
They split into their two parties and fanned out a bit into the forest. Far enough to be able to fight separate enemies, but close enough that they could provide quick support if needed. They never faced a lone Little Nepenthes. There were always two or more, but rarely more than five.
It was three shields split between two parties. Bladescape was bouncing between Knightstar and Malus, aggressively attacking the multiple monsters, and letting them block for her. Doombunny was mostly behind Malus. She struck sometimes, but only ever at enemies already damaged and ones who would die without question, giving her the chance to jump back to safety. Knightstar would occasionally attack, also when the kill was certain. Malus just focused on the defense. Her hammer was not effective against these soft creatures.
Bladescape leaped out and slashed the last HP off of a Little Nepenthes before ducking under a lashing vine. She dove out of the way of another, hitting the ground hard. Another vine came at her. She got her sword in between her and the vine. It slammed her sword into her chest, but she avoided getting run through.
Doombunny jumped out, slashing through the stalk of one, and then jumping to the next. Malus blocked Bladescape and Knightstar blocked Doombunny and then slashed one down. Doombunny dashed out across the area and then slid under a vine. She came out of the slide and savagely sliced up the last Little Nepenthes.
Doombunny stood up, proud and strong. Her look over her shoulder at Bladescape was kind and sweet, like the Fluttershy they knew. Yet the Fluttershy they knew wouldn’t be able to pull off that sliding attack. Her adaptation was necessary, but Bladescape was concerned that they would lose Fluttershy to this reality.
With the enemies cleared, fanfare played as they leveled up to Level 3. Malus offered a hand to Bladescape and pulled her up.
“Good job,” Sunset said, nodding to each of them. “Two hours down and…” Sunset shrugged. “Well, we are zero for three on the flowers, but this quest wasn’t easy in the beta. However, we are Level Three, which means more HP. We are learning well.”
“The chance of a spawn is at most, one percent,” Knightstar said, trying to adjust her missing glasses. “At least, that is what my calculations are drawing. Between our luck here and the knowledge that Natora gave us...well she warned us one would be hard, let alone three.”
“Yeah, but she also led us here,” Bladescape said. “So, it is worth it.”
A cry from the other team had them sprinting through the trees and brush. They found the others getting swarmed. They ran straight into the fray.
Malus rammed her shield into one, forcing it into another and pinning them against a tree. Natora struck, piercing the stalk with her spear tip in a fury that showed them all why she liked the thrusting weapon. The first one popped and then Doombunny finished the next.
Bladesape came at a Little Nepenthe from behind that was having Konpeito hopping in avoidance, not for fun. Her agility was remarkable as she barely avoided all of the lashes and strikes. It turned towards its new attacker, but Bladescape came out of her delay in time and sliced it into polygons.
The reinforcements were necessary as they were continually swarmed by more Little Nepenthes. There was no break as the hoard came down on them. Bladescape was ducking and diving as she tried to avoid four at once. Konpeito was right on her flank, killing two of them before Bladescape was able to launch her first attack on the new wave.
Bladescape and Konpeito were not the only ones in that position. The others were having just as hard of a time, if not worse, trying to deal with a mass number of Little Nepenthes descending on them. Sunset watched her party’s health bars slide lower and lower, from green, to yellow, to orange, and then into the red. Even Doombunny slid down into the red. They had no option but to continue to fight and hope they made it out.
Sunset dropped to her knees, her sword sinking into the virtual ground, as the last of them were killed. Her Search Skill identified no enemies in the area. They had survived the slaughter, it took half an hour and it left them all barely alive, but they were alive.
“What happened?” Sunset huffed.
“I popped a poison sack,” Natora replied back, in between breaths. “We need to take health potions, quickly in case they respawn, but it was my fault. I failed you all.”
“Don’t give yourself that much credit,” Malus said. “It could’ve been any of us, really.”
“Thanks, but we’re all almost dead,” Natora stated. “Dead dead. And we’re no closer to getting even one flower dropped.”
“Statistically speaking, we are,” Knightstar said as she drank a health potion. The empty vial shattered into the same polygons that made up everything in Aincrad. “And this game is full of statistics and algorithms. The longer we are fighting and killing them, the greater the chance a flowering one will spawn. Especially at the rate we are currently killing them at. And if we want those chances to increase, we need to split back up.”
“Just be careful,” Sunset added. “It can happen again, to any of us. So be mindful. I’m not placing any blame on anyone.”
“Thanks,” Natora nodded. “Be safe.”
Sunset led her team, who were back at full health, off into the forest. She worked to circle them around the town, rather than go towards or away from it, since the creatures hung out around it. She soon picked up more of the plant creatures. The flowers targeted them and pushed them all into a new battle.
It was nearly noon when the next break happened. They had fought for over two hours without any lulls. That welcomed break came with Level 4, which securely put them above the level of the Little Nepenthes.
"Sugarcube," Malus said, looking at Doombunny. "What’s wrong?"
"I don't want to do this anymore!" Doombunny declared. "I'm tired, I'm hungry, I’m sore and bruised, I'm scared, I'm not cut out for this. For clearing the game with you all. I know we just leveled up again, but I'm not a fighter. Sure, they aren’t cute, but I know there will be other amazing animals in this world. What then? I will have to fight them. My life or theirs."
"You could switch weapons," Knightstar suggested. "It isn’t too late. We could get you a sword and shield, or a spear and shield."
"I don't want to hide behind a shield," Doombunny stated. A tear slid down her cheek and she tried to pull it back in with a wet sniff. "I'm not strong enough mentally to be a tank, and I wouldn't go on the offensive when I need to. The big weapons are too much. The dagger is exactly what I need to fight with, I'm just not cut out to be a fighter in this game.
"I don't want the same things you all want. I wanted adventure, but this is a nightmare. I can't find adventure here. You, Bladescape, are having as much fun as you can and so is Malus. I know Diemond and Konpeito also don't want to fight. It serves their purpose, for now, but it won't always be like that. I just want to quit and live in the Town of Beginnings."
"Fluttershy," Sunset said.
Fluttershy interrupted her. "My name is Doombunny! Fluttershy is not here, but I'm still the same weak, meek, coward who would prefer to hide than fight."
"This is the perfect time to conquer that," Sunset pushed. "It is a fresh start, in a new place, where only seven, well eight, of us know who you are IRL. Use it, because right now, we can't get you back to the Town of Beginnings. At least not without drawing attention to ourselves and our strategy. And right now, we need that leg up to survive. So, stay ahead and gain the levels for being in a party with us."
Doombunny took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. "Fine," she stated. "I'll stay, for now, and I will fight as best I can. But I will give no guarantees about things once we get back to Horunka."
"We will discuss this more later, but more enemies just spawned over there," Sunset said, redirecting them as Search notified her of the enemy presence. “I'll walk over and draw them over to us. We are already further away from the others than planned."
"I'll come with you," Malus said.
"No," Sunset said, shaking her head. "Stay here so I know exactly where to come back to."
It wasn't hard to lure the Little Nepenthes back to the others. They had a larger targeting range and larger following algorithm than the boars around the Town of Beginnings. She was able to stay out of their attack range as she drew their attention.
Back with the others, another long battle broke out. There seemed to be no end to the enemies as they kept respawning close enough to be drawn into the battle.
"Now I’m really hungry..." Malus growled as the last of the Little Nepenthes was killed.
"Same," Knightstar said. "Our kill count is three-hundred and sixty-eight, without counting our joint clash. I couldn't keep track of that one. That puts the drop rate well under one percent."
Sunset groaned. Both in mental exhaustion and in physical agony. She hurt. She was sore. The multiple puncture wounds she had received throughout the day still throbbed dully in the back of her mind, despite her best efforts to block them out. Full health didn’t take away that feeling.
Sunset was distracted from the other's conversation as Search alerted her to a new presence. It wasn't an enemy though. It was players. It was just their friends, but it was good to know that her passive search fields were working. The battles had been confusing, but situational awareness was a very important skill. With Search, she could set up fields, so that if something broke it, she would get notified. Nothing could sneak up on her if she used it properly.
“Any luck?” Natora asked.
“None,” Knightstar replied.
“Well, I gave up in the beta for a reason,” Natora replied. “That and I wasn’t enjoying using a sword. I also had a lot of other places to explore. I didn’t have to rely on it. I could afford to quit.”
“Can we afford to quit?” Knightstar asked.
“Think of how hard we are working,” Thunderborne said. “If it’s this hard to get a simple flower, then it has to be worth it. No game makes useless items this hard to get.”
“Thunder has a valid point,” Natora said. “I’m sure you all are as tired and hungry as we are, but if we can just push a little bit longer...a spawn has to be soon.”
“And there are more enemies,” Bladescape groaned. “Come on, just a little longer. Then we can get dinner and figure things out from there.”
Bladescape, Natora, Malus, and Thunderborne were the only ones who went after the enemies. Bladescape didn’t blame the others. She wouldn’t even mention it. It wasn’t worth it. They were all tired.
“Hold it,” Natora said, blocking them with her spear. “That one has the flower. Thunder, take the one in the center, I’ll go for the one on the left. Malus and Blade, go for the one with the flower. Thunder, I’m sure you will kill your target before I do, so come back me up. Be aggressive. Let’s end this day’s nightmare on a win.”
“Right,” the three of them agreed in unison.
They roared as they rushed towards the enemies. Thunderborne was sent diving as her target launched its vines at her. Malus got in front of Bladescape and took the vines with a calmness that was almost scary. Bladescape didn’t miss the opportunity as she struck, landing a solid slash with Horizontal to the stalk which also added critical attack damage. Bladescape was frozen as the vines switched targets. She unfroze just in time and triggered Horizontal again. The Little Nepenthes lost almost all of its health from the second strike. Malus’ hammer smacked the last of it off.
The pretty polygons were of no concern as Bladescape rushed to Thunderbrone’s aid. She had not landed a hit on the Little Nepenthes and had taken a hit of her own. Bladescape sliced the flower with a precision honed from Iaido club. The cut also was a critical attack, but it left her frozen. As the flower turned to her, Thunderborne jumped in and carved it up.
They both turned to the other creature. Malus was on one knee, staying low and solid as she took the lashing vines on her shield. Natora stood up from behind her and rammed the spear into the stalk, ending the Little Nepenthes.
“Did you get it?” Natora immediately asked.
“Yep,” Bladescape nodded as she swiped up her menu. She scrolled through her items and clicked on it. The flower popped out into her hands.
“Put it away and let’s get back to the others,” Natora said.
They rushed back to the others.
“We got one!” Bladescape exclaimed as they ran up to the group. “We got one flower.”
“Come on,” Natora said, beckoning to them. “Back to Horunka for a meal and rest.”
Everyone rushed after her, as fast as they could, and they all breathed a sigh of relief when they got inside the safe zone of the village.
“Great job, everyone,” Bladescape said. “Well earned levels and skill points.” Bladescape pulled the flower out of her menu. “Knightstar, you need this.”
“Me‽” Knightstar exclaimed. “You got it and Thunder was there as well. I wasn’t in the fight.”
“Yeah, but Thunder and I want different weapons,” Bladescape explained. “Soon, hopefully, we will move to them, making the sword useless to us. The only one of us who will actually use the sword long enough to make today worth it is you.”
“She is right,” Natora panted. “Logically, you are the best one to have the sword. Sure, Blade could give you it later, but it makes more sense for you to become familiar with it now.”
“Besides,” Bladescape said, extending the flower to Knightstar. “The way I see it, we may not have gotten three flowers, but we all worked equally to get this one. It doesn’t matter who got the drop. We did this as a team and we will do more as a team. All of us are stronger together. We clearly saw that today when the poison sack was popped and we handled the swarm together. So, take it, Knightstar. You certainly earned it.”
Knightstar gingerly took the flower and looked towards the house. She tried to adjust her glasses to calm her nerves, but this was Aincrad, they were not here. “Alright, I will, for the good of us all.”
Knightstar and the others walked off to the house. Diemond stayed with Bladescape, who was looking through her menu.
“What are you looking for?” Diemond asked. “You play more of these games than I do. Can you explain it to me?”
“I’m looking to see how much col we got dropped,” Bladescape explained. “From that, I can estimate all of our finances. I'm not as good as Knightstar, but I'm competent in math. I also can estimate our experience, both skill experience and level experience. We are moving past level four at a good rate. Our party hit level four in the middle of combat, so our stats are not fresh. We earned a good amount of XP past it.”
“I was wondering if you all did make it to level four,” Diemond stated.
“Come on,” Bladescape said. “I want to see what the general store has besides health potions. I know Malus said they had slightly better weapons that were not worth the cost, but I want to see for myself. And check the cost of doing repairs. We can’t afford to have our weapons or armor break tomorrow in the middle of combat.”
In the NPC shop, Bladescape found the weapons easily enough, but while the attack stats for the sword were better than the starter one, its durability factor was low, making it a risk. In their teams, with freshly repaired equipment, they could go longer, be safer, and save money for more important upgrades later.
Bladescape spotted a brown leather half coat. It was basic, with nothing fancy, made out of five pieces of leather. There were four armor classes in SAO: No armor, Leather Armor, Light Metal Armor, Heavy Metal Armor. All clothing had an armor statistic to it, which anyone could wear. The metal armor was crucial for tanks, specifically the heavy armor, because of the defense they provided, but they were heavier and slowed the wearer down, which wasn’t good for a more fluid attack style. Being made of leather didn’t necessarily mean the armor was under the Leather Armor class. That was what their leather starter chest plates fell into, the no armor category. No armor equipment could have decent stats and, coupled with the right play style, it could provide solid protection.
For now, Bladescape didn’t have an armor skill. Search was taking up her second skill and it was proving to be very useful. The half coat had better stats than her basic chest piece, so Sunset bought it.
“Really?” Diemond asked as the coat popped onto Bladescape.
The game fit it over her other armor chest plate, something Bladescape had not expected. The defense stats stacked together.
“What?” Bladescape shrugged. “It has better stats.”
“It’s just so…” Diemond just finished with a disgusted face. Despite that, she turned to the NPC and bought the same coat.
“Smart thinking,” Natora said entering the shop. The rest of the others were with her. “But next time, let me do the buying. Purchase Negotiations, remember?"
“Quest complete?” Bladescape asked, ignoring the question. She had forgotten Natora had that skill.
“Yeah,” Natora nodded.
Knightstar drew her new sword. “The Anneal Blade. It has eight enhancement slots that can be attempted. The stats...they are worth all we went through today.”
It was a pretty nondescript longsword. There was no fuller, the blade was a bit longer than their starter sword, it was also narrower than their starter sword, and its blocky crossguard had tips that jutted forward at a right angle. The pommel was a disc, barely larger than the black leather handle was. The whole thing was more of a dull steel, rather than the flashy, well-polished, high carbon steels, but the carbon count of steel didn’t matter in Aincrad. The sword was a good one no matter how it looked.
Bladescape nodded to Knightstar. “If my skill keeps on this progression path, by the end of the week I will be using a two-handed sword and Dash will be using a rapier. I’m sure both Nats and Pinkie will also be using advanced weapons by then as well.”
“Game etiquette,” Thunderborne said. “Use the game names, what other players will see. They won’t know who you are talking about otherwise. It’s a common courtesy.”
“Right,” Bladescape said with a sigh. Actually being the actor, not sitting behind a controller, made that part harder for her to switch. She wouldn’t have a problem with anyone else in the game, just her friends. “Right. I’ll work on it.”
“Come on,” Natora said, finishing up buying out the stock of potions. “Let’s get our equipment repaired so its durability is maximized, and then grab dinner and crash. We made a lot of progress today. More players are showing up here.”
They went across the street to the building next to the inn. It was the village craftsman. For a fee, he repaired their weapons, shields, and armor. Ready for battle, they headed to the inn.
They got some basic bread and cheese, saving their money for more important things, and ate it while sipping on an ale. Alcohol didn’t exist in SAO. Ale, beers, and wines couldn’t get you drunk. It was an interesting feature, considering they had been forced to exchange one reality with another. Food only satisfied the hunger in the game, doing nothing except eliminating that feeling. What it was didn’t matter as long as it cut out that pain.
Before bed, Sunset told Diemond and the others how to use the pelts Diemond still had to make the floor feel more comfortable. Sunset laid down on her own pelt. She was tired, exhausted even, but sleep didn’t come. Malus was snoring away almost as soon as she laid down, but there was no rest for Bladescape. Nothing was particularly on her mind and maybe that was what was bugging her.
BLADESCAPE: Level 4 — One-Handed Sword — Searching
NATORA: Level 4 — One-Handed Spear — Purchase Negotiations
KNIGHTSTAR: Level 4 — One-Handed Sword — Shield
MALUS: Level 4 — One-Handed War Hammer — Shield
THUNDERBORNE: Level 4 — One-Handed Sword — Sprint
KONPEITO: Level 4 — One-Handed Axe — Cooking
DIEMOND: Level 4 — Mace — Shield
DOOMBUNNY: Level 4 — One-Handed Dagger — Hide