Sword Art Online

[Kaoru Asuna]

"Aww, thank you," I returned casually, but I blushed, too, not expecting him to return the compliment. We walked in silence for a little while.


We were nearing the housing area, and we stopped at the gate to the city.


"I think we should head over to the blacksmith. They might have something for us to do there. Come on, if you're comming," I said, heading in that direction.

 

[CelticHero37]

I hurry along after her and enter the blacksmiths shop. We've just started the game, so we don't have any outstanding skills yet. But there's only one way to get those. Perhaps this blacksmith was an NPC, since this was a major city. In which case they could probably get pretty cheap jobs designed to help characters level up.

 

[Kaoru Asuna]

When I pushed the door open, a bell jingled. The inside of the shop was cool. Or I guess I should say warm, because it was really hot, what with the giant stone hearth blazing with hot coals and fire behind the wooden counter. The large man behind it looked up when we came in. He had a happy, round face thast smiled when he saw us.


"How can I help you," he asked. "Can I intrest you in any weapons or armour?"


I returned his smile but shook my head 'no'.


"Sorry, but we were wondering if you needed anything done, like an odd job? We're looking to make some credits so we can get a room at an inn. It's our first day here."

 

[CelticHero37]

I let Kokyo do the talking, surprised at her initiative. The blacksmith laughed heartily and smiled again offering to give us a job smithing basic armor and weapon types. He said that if we did a good enough job that he would even give us extra money to spend. That sounded good enough to me, so I nodded. But then I looked to Kokyo to make sure she was up for it too.

 

[Kaoru Asuna]

"Wow, thank you so much! This is perfect!" I told the man, who asked us to call him Marvin. I turned to Midori, who was already looking at me. "Do you mind if I ask him if we can start now? I want to get at least a few credits before I log off for the day."

 

[CelticHero37]

Midori smiled. "I had assumed we were going to start right away. Let's get going then." When they asked for permission to work, Marvin pointed them to a set of anvils next to furnaces. It wasn't that big, but the space contained all they needed to craft basic armor. Midori walked over, picked up some bronze from a scrap pile the blacksmith had, and started smelting a bronze bar.

 

[Kaoru Asuna]

I asked Marvin if he wanted us to make anything specific, but he said no, to make whatever we wanted. I took Midori's lead and started working.


We worked for the next few hours in nice silence. I only had to ask Midori a few things before I got the hang of it. I made a breastplate, but I didn't pay too much attention to what he was making.

 

[CelticHero37]

In the original version of Sword Art Online, smithing held a wide variety of opportunities. This allowed for effective customization. However, it had still been limited by certain attribute menus and decorum counts.


In the new version, one could still go about smithing in the old fashion. Yet there was a new interface which literally allowed the player to shape the metal and designate it's function. Using the given data, the game would process the attributes through a series of tests. In essence, one could now create an entirely new weapon and learn how effective it could be.


Despite all this, Midori was no great inventor or talented blacksmith. Since his level was so low, it was also hard for him to mold the metal. But eventually, he was able to reach his desired goal. Two greaves formed to fit as a pair. They were designed to be fairly pointed at the front to allow for particularly painful kicks.


Midori chose to craft these because he didn't much care for most types of armor. Simply because armor could really bog someone down. Midori was more interested in speed and accuracy. The greaves were perfect because they weren't overly heavy and heightened the effectiveness of kicks along with the users defense.


Once he finished, he looked up toward his new friend, "Did you finish yours yet Kokyo?"

 

[Kaoru Asuna]

"Yeah." I held my breastplate up. It looked okay but not great, but for my first piece, I was pretty happy with it. "I wonder if Marvin would mind if I tried to sell it," I whispered to him.

 

[CelticHero37]

I gave her a confused look, "Wasn't he going to buy it from us? Or do you think we could get a better price somewhere else? Either way, we should talk to Marvin first. It would just be the honest thing to do since we used his material."

 

[Kaoru Asuna]

"To tell the truth, I didn't think he'd want to buy this one," I whispered grinning. "But, yeah we should definately talk to him first. I wouldn't have it any other way."


(I think I'm going to log off pretty soon, msybe right now.)

 

[CelticHero37]

"Hey! Don't be so down on yourself," I say, giving the chest plate a solid knock, "This is quality work from a beginner. Besides, Marvin seems like a nice guy. I'm sure he'll give you a good price."





(Okay, have a good night!)

 

[Kaoru Asuna]

"Yeah, you're probably right. Come on, we should go show him these." And we did. He said he liked our work and payed us well, plus the bonus cash!


"Thank you, Marvin. You really helped us out by doing this..." I began, but he just waved us off smiling, and telling us to go have fun with our moolah (well, he used another word, but still).

 

[CelticHero37]

"I think this should be enough to get a place for the night. But to get some sort of permanent residence, I'd have to give you my money… so, here. I'd rather you find a nice place." I opened up his menu and transferred his money over to Kokyo.

 

[Kaoru Asuna]

"You didn't have to do that..." I said, rubbing the back of my neck kind of embarrassed. "That was your money. What are you going to do about a place now?"

 

[CelticHero37]

I shook my head and looked to the ground, "Don't worry about me. I've got a pretty good handle of MMO's. I can survive one night no problem. Then I'll just come back to work again tomorrow."

 

[Kaoru Asuna]

"Oh come on, I can't let you sleep in the street," I sighed. "If you really want to give me the money, I'll get a place and you can stay there with me until you get your own place. Or I'll have to give the money back."

 

[CelticHero37]

I sighed in annoyance. Although staying in the same house as her for a while was a pretty attractive arrangement. But she wouldn't think of him like that by any means. "Okay fine, you win. I'll crash at your new place until I make up some money then. So what are you looking to buy?"

 

[Kaoru Asuna]

"Probably just something big enough for me, like a little cabin maybe with one big room with everything in it. I wonder how I could find something like that. Do you think there's a place something like a realty outlet where you can see everything for sale?" I asked Midori.

 

[CelticHero37]

I nodded. "Yeah, I think there's actually just a tab in the player menu where you can find that stuff. But hey, if you're looking for a one room place… there's only going to be one bed. So no fighting about it. I'm sleeping on the couch. Okay? It's your house. You get the bed."

 

[Kaoru Asuna]

I smiled, saying, "Fine. But only if you swear that you aren't letting me have it because I'm a girl." I opened my menu and found the list he'd mentioned, and started scrolling through it. I saw a few interesting places, but I found an almost perfect one after a few minutes.


"Wow, look at this. This is great..." Midori came over where he could see my menu. There was a picture of a small almost shack-like cabin in the forest, with a tiny creek running next to it. It was beautiful. "I couldn't have pictured a more perfect place! I think I'm going to buy it. What do you think?" I turned to Midori.