[center][h1]~Two Kinds of First-Timers~[/h1][/center]

Only twice? It seemed Totsu was a really fast learner, picking up on the patterns of the first trial so quickly, not to mention that running, her stats were pretty balanced so it was around the expected for the developers, but still, I think I might’ve clapped if I didn’t fear it would distract her. Part of me was a little anxious about when I’d get to show her my actual character (and what her reaction would be at the time), but at this rate it might not take nearly as long as I thought for her to reach enough of a level that I wouldn’t need to use Beardo. By the end of it, she seemed exasperated, so I walked up to her to give some words of comfort.

[color=#68BCDD]"Don't worry, there is a checkpoint after each section... after enough protests from the players"[/color] I shrugged. [color=#68BCDD]"Didn't make it any better that he took so long to respawn after... I... uh…." [/color]

[center]~~~~~Flashback~~~~~[/center]

[i][color=#68BCDD]“Huff, huff, huff…”[/color] I panted as I attempted to reach that last torch, until one hoot hit my leg and next thing I knew I spread on the floor with my face covered in dust and dirt which soon disappeared as if by magic (well, it was video game magic in a way). My character was supposed to be a runner, they had low agility precisely because their classes would stay in place a lot! I was even dressed in a black hoodie with pictographic flames that a guildmate had given to me for roleplay reasons (well, it was better than what I had previously anyway) and it really didn’t help me go any faster towards those torches! Who designed a system like this, so unfair, so annoying, weren’t games supposed to be for fun, weren’t-

[color=gold]“Slacking off, are you?”[/color] Are you kidding? This was my fourth time already you know? My head turned slowly, and glanced at the offuscating reflecting of the sunlight on onyx armor. He whipped my back with his rapier, then scoffed. [color=gold]“Another brain-dead squire who can only follow orders and not think logically for themselves, typical. What will you do in a field of battle when communications with your commander is cut off? Sit on your ass an invite death? Get out of my sight and call someone worthwhile."[/color]

[color=#68BCDD]“No...no…”[/color]

The screen appeared in front of me, asking if I wanted to repeat the quest.

[color=#68BCDD]“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”[/color]

Since I didn’t properly reset the quest, it ended up taking even longer just to do that… 

[color=#68BCDD]“Grrrr….”[/color] I clenched both my teeth and my fists, bent down over the steps of the training grounds. Ah, fine! I couldn’t take it anymore. They needed someone to be the guinea pig for that revenge plan, right? Well, here it was folks! I opened my friend’s list, and pressed Karz name. [color=#68BCDD]“Come. Let’s get this done and over with.”[/color]

(................)

As I finally managed to get out of that humiliating second trial, I witnessed as the orange-haired man drew his blade, and as his colors changed to indicate he had become an enemy now.

[color=gold]“For your final trial, you must prove yourself worthy of drawing a blade by my side. Or, well, at least try to do the bare minimum and keep up with me. I’ll be sure to give you myself an appropriate handicap.”[/color] When he smirked, so did I.

[color=#68BCDD]“Finally…finally I reached this point. You turned to enemy status. Which means… IT’S TIME EVERYONE!”[/color]

Players of every race and many of the classes lept out onto the training grounds, some already there before, others using skills or glitches to get in, and we all stroke at the self-professed knight together.

We should have probably realized it though: the jerk actually scaled with how many people were nearby...[/i] 

[center]~~~~~Flashback Over~~~~~[/center]

[color=#68BCDD]“...Well I am glad they fixed it for the new players."[/color] So many losses that day… And sometimes people brought it up just to tease us. Even just thinking about it was reddening the tips of my cheeks a little. Fortunately for me, the knight interrupted us to insist on continuing the trials. I made sure to give Totsu a little push of encouragement and sent her on her way. 

Honestly, I couldn’t help but just blink a couple of times at how quickly Totsu answered sir Laig’s questions. It was as if she read a cheater’s manual or something, coming up with that kind of answer right off the bat. 

[color=#68BCDD]“She’s way better at this than I ever was, isn’t she?”[/color] I made a mental note to make double and triple sure to get her into our guild before any other managed to scoop her up. Then again, I would have to be subtle about it, after the incident with the jerks earlier today she might not feel so great about people trying to get her to join their guilds. Possibly even me. For now I’d just continue to keep an eye on her. Whether she became a guildmate or not, she was already a friend. Yes indeed! 

I nodded to myself, then opened my menu, and selected an option that projected an image of Totsu’s ongoing trial after she touched the orb. Now that I looked at it, Totsurugi was a very well-made character aesthetically. Before with her robe and the way her hair dropped just a bit in front of her face but mostly straight on her back, it gave that really foresty-elven look, but now that her hair looked more well-cared for all straight, combined with a long dress so thin and delicate it waved from the breeze of the opening door.

[color=#68BCDD]“Are you kidding me, that looks so much comfier that it made [i]me[/i] wear.”[/color] I growled again without thinking.

[center]~~~~~Flashback~~~~~[/center]
[i][color=#68BCDD]“There are just… so many layers… I’m sitting over.”[/color] The pillow, the dress, and the enormous amount of frills in between. Maybe it was because my avatar was younger, but this formal dress was really puffy everywhere. Well, I just had to be polite and eat dinner or something right? I reached out to grab a spoon for the soup and -

[color=gold]“How disgraceful! You mean you do not know even the proper order of silverware? Shoo you incompetent bafoon shoo!”[/color][/i]

[center]~~~~~Flashback Over~~~~~[/center]

I waved at Totsurugi as she returned from the second trial, not feeling any less of a blush, or any less impressed at her performance than before. Honestly, it was over pretty quick for her, but she already looked pretty pissed. Not that I couldn’t very well picture why.

[color=#68BCDD]“Come on, don’t have such a grumpy face, you did spectacular out there! It’s like you’ve done this before or something.”[/color]

[color=45bd2a]“Y-you saw that?”[/color] Totsu’s voice squeaked a bit. She was taken to an entirely different place, so she probably didn’t realize I could watch her. I shrugged.

[color=#68BCDD]“Yeah, there’s an option on the menu that lets you take a look at your party. It’s really useful for visualizing, though it does only work if they are close enough and in relative line of sight. If you’d like, I can show it to you after you’re done with your last trial. Speaking of which, I think it’s here.”[/color]

After seeming to gather himself (or load the last part of the trial data), the orange-hair knight slowly turned to Totsurugi and drew his blade at her, much like he once did with me:

[color=gold]“For your final trial, you must prove yourself worthy of drawing a blade by my side. Or, well, at least try to do the bare minimum and keep up with me. I’ll be sure to give you myself an appropriate handicap.”[/color] He smirked. Totsurugi looked at Sir Laig, then back at me.

[color=45bd2a]“Now I have to fight him too? Seriously?”[/color] I grinned while giving her a thumbs up.

[color=#68BCDD]“Don’t worry, you can do this. Even if you ended up failing, it’s not like you wouldn’t be in good company. Go get ‘im Totsu!”[/color]

She nodded, and descended down the stairs, readying her staff against the knight’s neverending grin. It felt like the would-be-grains on the stairs were getting louder with every step my friend went down, seeming to glance around a lot. She took a short breath before the last one, and pointed her staff somewhere even as she was still going down. It wasn’t against the knight, however, but against the ground next to her. 

[color=45bd2a]“Essence absorb!”[/color] I heard what seemed like a squeak or a deflating balloon noise. Meanwhile the knight didn’t move an inch. Then, Totsu pointed at him instead. [color=45bd2a]“Adaptive bolt!”[/color]

A bolt of grey energy shot out at the knight, who took it head on. His feet just slightly a little back. 

[color=gold]“Hoh? Maybe there’s some bite to your kind after all. I shall be the judge of it in the end, of course. Dash Dance!”[/color] For a second, he seemed to run straight at Totsu, but then he suddenly turned a few degrees to the side and seemed to vanish, reappearing as he lept sideways behind Totsu and kicked her in the back, pushing her to the center of the ring. He then pointed his sword at the sky. [color=gold]“Heaven Joust!”[/color]

Several spiritual jousting lances with stripe patterns appeared above the training grounds, and rained down on the sand part near the center where Totsu had been kicked into. From there on out, Sir Laig would simply continue his unfair barrage of attacks. Dance Dash could move the opponent around, and interrupt long spellcasting without proper set up (though it had a cooldown some players had exploited before). Heaven Joust was an AOE strike he often used when he got his opponent on the center of the training grounds. Fight Properly! was an attack where he stabbed his sword into the ground, and it created quicksand that pulled escaping opponents back into the center. And finally there was the crosssilk spider name, and having to say it as an attack was the only reason to explain why he always spoke so fast: After all, it was an instant, melee, high damage attack with his sword. If he didn’t have so many ways to move you, it probably wouldn’t be so hard to dodge, but as it stood it was a real threat. Still, knowing his advantage was based on you being in the center could make a potential answer obvious. Especially if you also knew there was a barrier dealing damage for any who tried escaping the duel. Fear-effect spam had made the developers give this guy an immunity to it for a reason.

Until then though, he would simply continue to smuggly yell out stuff like “you require more training”, “please tell me these aren’t your serious skills” and “I am not even trying yet- how can you be so lowly?”. 

Yeah, this guy was a real pain in the ass.

[hr]

[@blueyellow]