KeotsuEclipse
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Gin walked over to me as I held the dusty tome in my hand and worked over the yellowed pages.
“What kind of quest?” he asked, eye brow raised in curiosity.
Closing the musty book, I handed it to Gin so that he could read for himself. As he did so, I opened my inventory and arranged some of my items, as well as checking on the status of my armor and weaponry. Everything was above eighty percent for durability, so all seemed well.
“Hm,” started Gin, as he closed the book with a resounding thump, “if we’re going to tackle this quest, we might as well party up. You alright with that?”
I nodded my head, and watched as Gin deftly maneuvered through his menu, and then watched as a party invitation appeared before my eyes. Without a moment’s hesitation, I pressed the small “o” that signified acceptance.
“So, what should we do? Finish clearing this place out, or go ahead and start the quest?” I couldn’t imagine much more being left to this cave, not with a quest starting item being placed this far in, and was sure that we would reach the end soon. Perhaps the most interesting part was that the quest starting item was in a treasure chest. Treasure chest did not “respawn” for days, and so Gin and I would be the only people aware of this quest for some time – and the only ones able to complete it for even longer after that, as I’m sure the NPC’s and enemies involved would take some time to respawn, as well.
Gin, though, gave a nonchalant shrug, opting to give me command. Placing my hand on the ivory hilt of <<White Rose>>, I titled my head backwards, thinking. On one hand, Gin partnered with me for the quest – it would be inconsiderate to continue poking around in the dungeon. On the other hand, if we were near the end, finishing up the map would be a nice little luxury.
Taking a handful of my silken hair, a quality created by the game, I shook my head.
“The quest says that we need to ‘touch the edge of the sky’. I’m willing to bet we need to head to the mountain that hits the ‘ceiling’ to this floor,” I said, as I turned to face Gin who…who had his finger in his nose.
“Sorry. Had an itch. But, seems as good as a place to start as any.”
Shaking my head with a smile, I turned and started walking back towards the entrance of the cave, drawing my sword as merely a precaution against any mob that might have spawned on the way there…
It did not take long for Gin and I to exit the cavern and begin heading to our presumed destination, and because of such, we had traveled a considerable distance in our half-hour march. The path to the mountain was blocked a by a thick coniferous forest – walls of deep viridian and dark brown rose to slow us, and our blades gleamed with faerie fire, as Sword Skills activated to strike down the bear-like mobs that inhabited the forest. While considerable weaker than the cave-dwellers, they still rewarded us with respectable amounts of EXP and Col.
Gin and I had a good synergy, but a strange one. In battle, the silver-haired man moved with an incredible speed, but also with amazing extravagance, and dealt out small bits of damage, though repeatedly, and quickly. He was definitely a speed type fighter, or someone known for DPS – Damage Per Second. With that silver hair of his moving like a blur through the air, he was like a bullet.
I, on the other hand, was more tanky. I tended to block blows and then counterattack with powerful combos, though even my most extravagant one was merely five hits, paling in comparison to Gin’s nine hit combo.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t recall many of our conversations, even moments after they happened. It’s not that we weren’t talking amiably, but that we more or less just rambled to each other, and so nothing memorable was said. We might as well have been moving in silence.
“Oi, so, what’ve you been up to in these last two months? You seem like the kind of guy who would have hit it off with a party pretty quickly,” said Gin, as he increased his pace slightly so that he walked abreast to me.
“Hm. You would think that, huh…?” I responded, before my voice trailed off, as I thought about his question, wondering how I should respond.
“Well….As you can tell, I’m American. For one, there’s obviously some hesitation around foreigners, but here in this game, our nationality doesn’t matter nearly as much, so that’s less of an issue – what is an issue, though, is that I can’t speak Japanese as well as a native. That causes problems sometimes.
“I also didn’t have any friends coming into the game… So, I’ve been pretty much on my own. And though I work with people when I can, I can’t say I’ve really gone out of my way to make friends. I’ve…simply thought that I can work hard, and clear the game. That’s it, I guess…”
Gin was quiet for a time, so I suspect he really didn’t have anything to say. It’s not like I was avoiding people for some psychological reason or anything. It was simply…easier, to just work. I didn’t feel right asking Gin about why he was a solo player, either, though, so I didn’t. We each had our reasons.
Anyway, I have a feeling the reason he asked me was because I was a tanky person anyway. A large majority of solo players dealt with DPS, aiming to kill mobs as fast as possible. If the fight didn’t drag on long, then there wasn’t any opportunity to screw up and get yourself killed.
It was a good philosophy, but not the one I followed. I believed that you should make yourself hard to kill, and then fight with all you had. I had faith that I could keep myself alive…but it’s always nice to have a wall of steel between your heart and the enemy’s blade.
As the forest started to give way to plains of tall grasses, the mountain in the distance didn’t look so far away. And though the sun was setting, and things were beginning to be painted in an amber light, I continued walking on. If Gin was tired and wanted to stop, then I would let him tell me, and then we would rest.
The problem was our levels. Though we were on the beginning floors, it really wasn’t safe to sleep outside of town. Because of this, parties were used to using a watch system, where someone would stand guard over the others while they slept. Solos, however, tended to just power through.
“It’s getting dark,” I said, matter-of-factly.
“No, really?” said Gin, with a sarcastic smile.
Shaking my head, I opened my menu and proceeded to unequip my shield and produce two torches, one of which I handed to Gin. They had cast an orange light about us, and released the smell of citrus.
“Repellant Torches,” said Gin with an impressed tone, “these’ll keep the smaller critters away from us.”
I nodded – that was exactly the reason I purchased those specific torches. They were immensely useful for cave mapping, and would serve us well, now that we were at the foot of the mountain.
The mountain itself was covered in lush green, but a tan scar ran up its face – some kind of trail that led to the summit. It wouldn’t be the first time I had walked the trail, so I had fair idea of what to expect.
The mobs on the mountain were considerably weaker than those in the surrounding forest, and thus wouldn’t present any problem to Gin and I. At the peak was also a large oval stone in front of a smaller outcrop of stone.
My gut told me that was where we were heading.
As the stones of the path crunched underfoot, I listened to the serenade of the night: the gentle, metallic ringing of mine and Gin’s equipment clicking, the chirping of crickets and the occasional hoot of an owl-like mob, as the wind rustled the leaves of the forest.
It took us a very boring twenty minutes to get to the top of the mountain.
“Feels like this has been some kind some kind of prayer trip,” said Gin, as he stopped and looked at one the stone structures on the side of the road.
“It does, doesn’t it?” I responded as I approached. The structure was composed of rectangular stabs stacked in alternating patters of twos and threes, and had a diamond shaped, white paper cloth situated underneath the topmost layer.
Suddenly, I felt uneasy. Turning around, I quickly surveyed our surrounding. There was nothing in our surroundings, because our torches were doing their job. But…I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was looming over me.
Looking at the midst of the summit, the large oval stone was just as I had remembered. Smooth, looming about twenty feet into the air, and crisscrossed with a white flag.
“Prayer trip, huh…?” I said, as I opened my menu, and looked at the name of the quest. Pulling out the book I had obtained in the cave, I looked on the ground, and found a spot as close to the center of the summit as I could manage – for, the large oval stone stood in the north, and three of the “shrines” that Gin was observing marked the other directions.
I can’t say I was surprised when I opened the book and four black flames produced themselves from the glyphs in its pages – rushing forward, they attacked the white lines crossing the stone, and caused the entire monolith to dissolve into nothing more than a pile of gray ash.
Staring into the inky blackness that was revealed by the removal of this….seal – for it could have been nothing else – that presence seemed to only have escalated. It was not until I heard the ring of steel that I had realized that I had drawn <<White Rose>> from its scabbard.
Or that Gin had done the same to his scimitar. At least I wasn’t the only one being paranoid.
“Ready, Gin?”
“After you, 'Ketsu.”
"It's not Ketsu. It's Keotsu."
Taking a deep breath and raising my torch and shield, I took the first few steps into that inky blackness…
“What kind of quest?” he asked, eye brow raised in curiosity.
Closing the musty book, I handed it to Gin so that he could read for himself. As he did so, I opened my inventory and arranged some of my items, as well as checking on the status of my armor and weaponry. Everything was above eighty percent for durability, so all seemed well.
“Hm,” started Gin, as he closed the book with a resounding thump, “if we’re going to tackle this quest, we might as well party up. You alright with that?”
I nodded my head, and watched as Gin deftly maneuvered through his menu, and then watched as a party invitation appeared before my eyes. Without a moment’s hesitation, I pressed the small “o” that signified acceptance.
“So, what should we do? Finish clearing this place out, or go ahead and start the quest?” I couldn’t imagine much more being left to this cave, not with a quest starting item being placed this far in, and was sure that we would reach the end soon. Perhaps the most interesting part was that the quest starting item was in a treasure chest. Treasure chest did not “respawn” for days, and so Gin and I would be the only people aware of this quest for some time – and the only ones able to complete it for even longer after that, as I’m sure the NPC’s and enemies involved would take some time to respawn, as well.
Gin, though, gave a nonchalant shrug, opting to give me command. Placing my hand on the ivory hilt of <<White Rose>>, I titled my head backwards, thinking. On one hand, Gin partnered with me for the quest – it would be inconsiderate to continue poking around in the dungeon. On the other hand, if we were near the end, finishing up the map would be a nice little luxury.
Taking a handful of my silken hair, a quality created by the game, I shook my head.
“The quest says that we need to ‘touch the edge of the sky’. I’m willing to bet we need to head to the mountain that hits the ‘ceiling’ to this floor,” I said, as I turned to face Gin who…who had his finger in his nose.
“Sorry. Had an itch. But, seems as good as a place to start as any.”
Shaking my head with a smile, I turned and started walking back towards the entrance of the cave, drawing my sword as merely a precaution against any mob that might have spawned on the way there…
It did not take long for Gin and I to exit the cavern and begin heading to our presumed destination, and because of such, we had traveled a considerable distance in our half-hour march. The path to the mountain was blocked a by a thick coniferous forest – walls of deep viridian and dark brown rose to slow us, and our blades gleamed with faerie fire, as Sword Skills activated to strike down the bear-like mobs that inhabited the forest. While considerable weaker than the cave-dwellers, they still rewarded us with respectable amounts of EXP and Col.
Gin and I had a good synergy, but a strange one. In battle, the silver-haired man moved with an incredible speed, but also with amazing extravagance, and dealt out small bits of damage, though repeatedly, and quickly. He was definitely a speed type fighter, or someone known for DPS – Damage Per Second. With that silver hair of his moving like a blur through the air, he was like a bullet.
I, on the other hand, was more tanky. I tended to block blows and then counterattack with powerful combos, though even my most extravagant one was merely five hits, paling in comparison to Gin’s nine hit combo.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t recall many of our conversations, even moments after they happened. It’s not that we weren’t talking amiably, but that we more or less just rambled to each other, and so nothing memorable was said. We might as well have been moving in silence.
“Oi, so, what’ve you been up to in these last two months? You seem like the kind of guy who would have hit it off with a party pretty quickly,” said Gin, as he increased his pace slightly so that he walked abreast to me.
“Hm. You would think that, huh…?” I responded, before my voice trailed off, as I thought about his question, wondering how I should respond.
“Well….As you can tell, I’m American. For one, there’s obviously some hesitation around foreigners, but here in this game, our nationality doesn’t matter nearly as much, so that’s less of an issue – what is an issue, though, is that I can’t speak Japanese as well as a native. That causes problems sometimes.
“I also didn’t have any friends coming into the game… So, I’ve been pretty much on my own. And though I work with people when I can, I can’t say I’ve really gone out of my way to make friends. I’ve…simply thought that I can work hard, and clear the game. That’s it, I guess…”
Gin was quiet for a time, so I suspect he really didn’t have anything to say. It’s not like I was avoiding people for some psychological reason or anything. It was simply…easier, to just work. I didn’t feel right asking Gin about why he was a solo player, either, though, so I didn’t. We each had our reasons.
Anyway, I have a feeling the reason he asked me was because I was a tanky person anyway. A large majority of solo players dealt with DPS, aiming to kill mobs as fast as possible. If the fight didn’t drag on long, then there wasn’t any opportunity to screw up and get yourself killed.
It was a good philosophy, but not the one I followed. I believed that you should make yourself hard to kill, and then fight with all you had. I had faith that I could keep myself alive…but it’s always nice to have a wall of steel between your heart and the enemy’s blade.
As the forest started to give way to plains of tall grasses, the mountain in the distance didn’t look so far away. And though the sun was setting, and things were beginning to be painted in an amber light, I continued walking on. If Gin was tired and wanted to stop, then I would let him tell me, and then we would rest.
The problem was our levels. Though we were on the beginning floors, it really wasn’t safe to sleep outside of town. Because of this, parties were used to using a watch system, where someone would stand guard over the others while they slept. Solos, however, tended to just power through.
“It’s getting dark,” I said, matter-of-factly.
“No, really?” said Gin, with a sarcastic smile.
Shaking my head, I opened my menu and proceeded to unequip my shield and produce two torches, one of which I handed to Gin. They had cast an orange light about us, and released the smell of citrus.
“Repellant Torches,” said Gin with an impressed tone, “these’ll keep the smaller critters away from us.”
I nodded – that was exactly the reason I purchased those specific torches. They were immensely useful for cave mapping, and would serve us well, now that we were at the foot of the mountain.
The mountain itself was covered in lush green, but a tan scar ran up its face – some kind of trail that led to the summit. It wouldn’t be the first time I had walked the trail, so I had fair idea of what to expect.
The mobs on the mountain were considerably weaker than those in the surrounding forest, and thus wouldn’t present any problem to Gin and I. At the peak was also a large oval stone in front of a smaller outcrop of stone.
My gut told me that was where we were heading.
As the stones of the path crunched underfoot, I listened to the serenade of the night: the gentle, metallic ringing of mine and Gin’s equipment clicking, the chirping of crickets and the occasional hoot of an owl-like mob, as the wind rustled the leaves of the forest.
It took us a very boring twenty minutes to get to the top of the mountain.
“Feels like this has been some kind some kind of prayer trip,” said Gin, as he stopped and looked at one the stone structures on the side of the road.
“It does, doesn’t it?” I responded as I approached. The structure was composed of rectangular stabs stacked in alternating patters of twos and threes, and had a diamond shaped, white paper cloth situated underneath the topmost layer.
Suddenly, I felt uneasy. Turning around, I quickly surveyed our surrounding. There was nothing in our surroundings, because our torches were doing their job. But…I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was looming over me.
Looking at the midst of the summit, the large oval stone was just as I had remembered. Smooth, looming about twenty feet into the air, and crisscrossed with a white flag.
“Prayer trip, huh…?” I said, as I opened my menu, and looked at the name of the quest. Pulling out the book I had obtained in the cave, I looked on the ground, and found a spot as close to the center of the summit as I could manage – for, the large oval stone stood in the north, and three of the “shrines” that Gin was observing marked the other directions.
I can’t say I was surprised when I opened the book and four black flames produced themselves from the glyphs in its pages – rushing forward, they attacked the white lines crossing the stone, and caused the entire monolith to dissolve into nothing more than a pile of gray ash.
Staring into the inky blackness that was revealed by the removal of this….seal – for it could have been nothing else – that presence seemed to only have escalated. It was not until I heard the ring of steel that I had realized that I had drawn <<White Rose>> from its scabbard.
Or that Gin had done the same to his scimitar. At least I wasn’t the only one being paranoid.
“Ready, Gin?”
“After you, 'Ketsu.”
"It's not Ketsu. It's Keotsu."
Taking a deep breath and raising my torch and shield, I took the first few steps into that inky blackness…
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