Blade XII:Upgrades and Other Changes
Ragna let out a yawn as he watched Lisbeth attempt to upgrade his sword. It was the day just after he'd completed his earlier job working with Asuna in order to get the layout of floor 10 and Ragna had decided it was time to check with his local blacksmith about upgrades to his equipment. Turns out Ragna had gathered enough materials to get his sword upgraded which lead to Lisbeth currently smacking it with her mallet. After a moment, a small shine emerged from the sword and the upgrading material was gone.
"Looks like we have a winner," Lisbeth said with a smirk as she looked at the stats. "Go ahead and take a swing or two with it."
Ragna nodded as he grabbed the sword and gave a few controlled swings with it. The blade seemed a little lighter to him now which he figured would happen after giving the weapon a speed related material. Though many would have thought of it as strange, Ragna actually valued the weight of his weapon, how it reminded him that he was still a human with limits to overcome, that he was still Bloodedge, not just the Black Beast in human form.
"Not bad," Ragna told her, giving the blacksmith a small nod of approval. "Alright, now what do I need to collect?"
Lisbeth went up to the blade and gave it a small tap with her index finger, causing a small text box to come up. After reading the text box for a few moments she gave a small smirk. "Looks like you've managed to get your weapon to a branching point Ragna."
"Oh... cool..." Ragna said as he reset his sword, trying not to look too confused. "Hey Lizbeth, what's a branching point?"
"Figured you wouldn't know about it," Lisbeth said with a flirty smile. "You're always all combat and no research. How do you expect to survive SAO if you don't know anything about it?"
"That's what I have Argo for," Ragna said as he rolled his eyes. 'But maybe I should try to find some of these things out on my own. At the very least I wouldn't have to pay Argo for overpriced mealsevery timeI wanted some info.'
"A branching point is the point where you can start making your weapon more unique and customize the stats the way you want it. What the branching point does is it gives you three different options and tells you the materials that you need for each option."
"So basically this lets me build Blood-Scythe the way I want it," Ragna summarized. "All right, so what are my options?"
"From what I can tell you have three options for improvement. The first options increases the blade's strength, which increases the amount of damage that you deal with it as well as its durability. Option 2 increase the weapons speed which decreases the weight of the weapon and makes it easier to wield and allows for faster moves. Option three has really hard material requirements, but you're able to get some pretty amazing abilities for your weapon from it."
'Don't really need this thing any lighter,'Ragna thought to himself. 'And with mystatsI can pretty much one hit anything I come across, so that leaves abilities... Maybe I can find a way actually channel my BlazBlue through my sword this way.' "What do I need for ability upgrades?"
"Looks like you need 25 ingots of Goblin Bronze.Can't say that I've heard about this material, but hopefully you get a decent upgrade when you finally find it."
"Already found it yesterday," Ragna told her. "Of course I still need to find 17 more of the damn thing, but at least I know that I can get it back on floor ten."
"So that's where you were yesterday," Lisbeth said to Ragna. "Anyways I don't have any orders to fill coming up, so do you want my help getting the materials? I won't charge you for the scan or upgrade if you say yes."
"...Fine, blackmail me why dontcha?" Ragna said as he placed Blood-Scythe back on his weapons belt. "Let's get going; sooner started, sooner I get my damn sword boost."
"Right behind you," Lizbeth told Ragna as she put her weapon in storage and followed Ragna out the tent flap. After setting the tent flap to 'locked,' she and Ragna started heading for the teleportation platform. "So I talked to Asuna yesterday morning and she told me that you going to be helping her guild out with a job. How'd it go?"
"Well enough I guess," Ragna shrugged. "I mean Asuna and I had to spend the entire day searching floor ten, but I in the end I got my money and the job wasn't that tough, so at least I didn't waste my day on any pointless crap."
"I doubt that it'd be pointless if you spent the day with Asuna," Liz told him.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"She's become something of a celebrity lately, I'm surprised you haven't heard." Ragna didn't say anything. If there was one thing in any damn world he found pointless, it was gossip. "Asuna told me that you saw that proposal by that one guy two days ago, but she'd actually been popped the question many more times before that. In fact, people say that she's been proposed to more times than any other player."
"Sounds annoying," Ragna said bluntly. "What about you? How many times have you been asked to tie the digital knot?"
"Zero," Lisbeth said with a sad smile as the two entered the main square. "I guess it's not too surprising, I'm just some mediocre blacksmith, Asuna's the amazing one."
"Keep with that attitude and it'll get you nowhere," Ragna muttered.
"What? You've got something to say?" Liz asked him with a small glare.
"Feeling like your place is in someone's shadow's just stopping you more than any monster ever could. Don't let what other people have accomplished determine what you can do, otherwise you'll never get out of that shadow."
"Is that supposed to be advice or a warning?" Liz was unsure of what Ragna was trying to say.
"Both, now let's go kill some monsters and see what you can you really do," Ragna said assuringly. He managed to get a more genuine smile out of Lizbeth, so that was something.
Floor Ten
When Ragna emerged from the bright light of the teleportation effect and walked along the cobblestone of the ruined city, the first thing he noticed was that while the sky was completely covered in black clouds that almost completely blocked out the sun, unlike yesterday it wasn't raining. As soon as Lizbeth emerged as well, Ragna opened his menu and sent her a party request, which she accepted.
"Cool, so anything I should know about this floor?" Liz asked as she brought her mace out and held it at the ready.
"Just a few things," Ragna told her. "First off, the only safe points that you can find in this place are the buildings with lit windows. Most are normally a tavern, an Inn, or a shop, but others are actually houses where you can get quests from NPC's. There are also these weird abandoned temples located around the city, but those all lead to dungeons. Most of the monster's you'll come across are going to be these tiny freaks called Goblins. They're annoying little shits, but they go down easier than those Orcs you faced on floor eight. Besides them you'll come across a couple of four legged freaks called Goblin Dogs, but despite their high HP, you don't need to worry about them too much."
"What about the material we're hunting, do you know what monster drops those?"
"The only monsters that drop what we need are Goblins, but either the drops rate is low or my luck is as shitty as hell. I was constantly fighting those freaks for hours yesterday and I only got eight of the damn things, so I have my doubts that we'll finish this job today."
"Then it's a good thing that you brought me along," Liz told him. "When you travel with someone who studies weapon or armor creation, your chances of getting material drops from monsters goes up."
"If that's all it takes I'll be surprised, but we'd better get started either way," Ragna told her as the two started walking off towards the city.
While the rain had stopped since yesterday, there were still plenty of puddles on the road, making it unavoidable to step them. Ragna figured he'd use the puddles to his favor, trying to keep an ear out for any sloshing sounds that didn't come from him or Lisbeth. After travelling for a few moments he heard a rustling sound coming from down one of the alleyways and saw a large swarm of Goblins heading towards the two of them.
(Cue SAO Luminous Sword)
"Told you they were ugly!" Ragna shouted with a smirk as he rushed towards the monsters. He quickly unclipped his sword and performed a massive slash that managed to catch three of the goblins and cause them to shatter. He then brought his blade around to catch the daggers from another group of goblins before he forced them off balance, grabbed one by its legs and swung the Goblin like a club, smashing it into its allies. He then swung the Goblin the other way before letting go and watching it fly, knocking over another group of Goblins in the process. "Tenth frame and one strike, let's go for two more," Ragna said with a smirk as another group of Goblins spawned close by and rushed forward to reinforce their friends.
While the Reaper was busy bowling with Goblins, our favorite Blacksmith was battling her half of the freaks. Liz might not have been in proficient in combat as Ragna, but it was understatement saying that she could handle herself. Her mace glowed a pale green as she activated her skill and unleashed a massive swing that smacked three Goblins and sent them flying into the wall where they were destroyed. She then smashed her mace to the floor, sending out a minor shockwave that stunned a small group of Goblins. Liz then unleashed three attacks, two horizontal ones to smash the monsters to her left and right away, before leaping into the air and bringing her mace down upon another one.
Ragna dodged a Goblins attack by dashing to the side before coming back with a massive slash that took the Goblin'shead off... or would've if it wasn't a T-rated video game program. Ragna then turned and unleashed a massive roundhouse slash that destroyed another group of enemies, before thrusting his sword forward and lunging through several monsters. A snarl was heard by the Reaper, which was coming from the rooftop. Ragna looked up and saw what appeared to be an overweight pitbull covered in warts with two large tusks.
"So now we've got the grumpy dogs coming out to play," Ragna observed before turning the last of the Goblins. "Don't you ever walk them?" Even if the Goblins could answer, they wouldn't have the chance to when Lisbeth brought their mace down upon the group, defeating them instantly.
"Shouldn't you be taking this seriously!?" Lisbeth yelled at the Reaper. "We're fighting for our lives here and you're not even going all out!"
"Eh," Ragna shrugged before stabbing his blade skyward impaling the Goblin Dog that had tried to maul him from the rooftops. The beast gave a series of feral shrieks and snarls as it struggled and trashed atop the blade. "I was bored out of my mind the moment the fighting started." Ragna then brought the blade downwards, cleaving through the monster and causing it to shatter in midair before resetting the blade on his belt.
"Then what about that!?" Liz shouted as she pointed with her weapon. Ragna slowly turned his head and noticed a second swarm of Goblin's heading towards them from a street and a half down, this one seemed significantly larger than the last one, a triple group at least. They were moving slowly in order to retain formation and numbers, so it might be some time before they made it to Ragna and Lizbeth.
"Ten or ten thousand it doesn't matter to me, this isn't even a real fight," Ragna said as he roundhoused a Goblin from the previous group and blasted it towards the next group knocking them over. "Strike two, one more and I'll have a perfect game. And Liz?" Ragna turned his head to his blacksmith. "Don't go thinking I'm just an uncaring ass. If I ever felt that you or any of my other friends were threatened I wouldn't hesitate to create hell. But for right now..." Ragna cracked his neck as he began to walk towards the Goblins. "Play time."
"This may be a game to you, but it's not to me," Liz told him, seeing as they still had a few moments before the Goblins got to them. "I'm not you Ragna, I'm not some amazing warrior who just came out of nowhere and began to wreak havoc on SAO, I'm just a regular girl who takes care of weapons and waits for other players to-"
"Remember what I said earlier?" Ragna asked, stopping his advance. "Don't put yourself in other's shadows, and don't compare yourself to me or anyone else for that matter. You're your own person Liz, live your own life." Ragna gave a small grin before he turned to her. "Now tell me; can you beat these things?"
"By myself?" Liz asked. "Ragna, I'm only level twenty-four. My attack might be good, but my defense and speed are-"
"I didn't ask for stats, I asked if you could beat them." Ragna's tone was very even as he looked at the Goblins in anticipation. Would it be him who'd be required to bring them down, or would he reteach his last lesson to Noel Vermillion to his own Blacksmith?
"...Yeah," Liz finally decided before gripping his weapon firmly. "I can beat them."
Ragna grin grew into a rugged smile. "Say it again, with more conviction this time."
"I can beat them!" Liz shouted as she tensed up. "I'll beat them into the ground!"
Ragna's smile grew, showing his sharp, shiny, half-vampiric teeth. "Show me."
Liz gave a battle cry as she rushed towards the enemy. Her mace glowing as she activated a skill and smashed her mace into the ground. The shockwave that emitted knocked over a large portion of the Goblins over which Liz made a massive swipe to bash them out of the way. She then continued her onslaught, causing more and more of her foes to shatter like glass. Whenever her health started to get low from the damage she took, Liz stepped back momentarily and quickly drank a healing potion before jumping right back into the fray.
"She's good, better than I would've thought," Ragna said to himself as he watched the conflict with his arms crossed, not feeling it necessary to be a part of this fight. A message box appeared in front of him suddenly, startling him. "What the hell's this?" Ragna read the message and groaned, Incoming call from Asuna. Steeling himself, Ragna accepted the message, causing a small panel to appear close to his mouth and right ear.
"Yeah Asu?" Calm, questioning chatter. "Yup, I'm with Liz right now." More questioning. "We're on floor ten." Screaming accusations, lots of them. "Hey, I know what I'm doing! She ain't in trouble!" A very temperamental question. "She's fighting right now, so I don't really know about talking." Yet another question, this one screamed. "Hey, she's got this I don't need to but in."
"AND IT'S A STRAIGHT 300!" Liz shouted joyfully right into Ragna's ear, causing the Reaper to cringe. "Talk to you later Asuna!"
(End theme)
Ragna was about to retort, but the call ended, apparently Asuna had hung up on them. "You know that Asuna's just going to pissed beyond belief at me, right?" Ragna asked as he held his pained ear.
"Nothing you haven't dealt with before," Liz said uncaringly. "Plus, I managed to level up twice just now, so I'm getting stronger and that ought to put her at ease."
"Even if I managed to get you to level fifty by the end of the day, she'd still be pissed at me," Ragna said with tsk. He then opened up his own menu. "Huh, no level ups for me, but we did manage to get 3 ingots of the materials I need. Honestly I would've been surprised I'd gotten one, but I guess you were right."
"Still more to get through, right?" Liz asked with a smirk. "At this rate, we should be done by the end of the day."
"I guess so," Ragna said with his own smirk.
That night
Ragna was where he was earlier that morning, standing in a tent watching Lisbeth got to work on Blood-Scythe, all of the materials he'd collected were piled on top of it. A few strikes of her smithing mallet later, Ragna's sword glew a familiar white light as it consumed the components and upgraded. The Reaper's eyebrow raised slightly as he observed the new change to his blade, the edge of the blade was now pitch black.
'A design change,' Ragna thought slightly annoyed. 'Damn it, I wanted this thing to stay the same.Guess I'll just have to live with it.' "So what's the ability?"
"Let me check," Liz said as she tapped on the blade. "It's called Critical Blade, it gives you a one percent chance to deal double the damage that the sword would normally deal. It's only level one right now, so I guess you could get more of a chance or a bigger output if you kept increasing it. Next material's called Sphinx's Bronze."
"No idea where to find it," Ragna said with reluctance. "Guess I'll hold off on upgrades for a bit then, thanks for the help."
"No problem, always here to help out a friend," Liz told Ragna with a smile. "So, want to have dinner? I'll treat this time."
"You'll pay? Then I'm definitely in!" Ragna said with eagerness, unused to not having to pay for both meals. "So where do you want to eat?"
"I actually have something else in mind," Liz said with a sly grin before opening her inventor and bringing out a large pot which she set on the counter. "When I talked with Asuna earlier she gave me this and hoped I'd tell her about it later. There's too much in here for just me alone, so I figured I'd share some with you. And..." She opened her inventory again and brought out a bottle of wine and two glasses. "I've been saving this for a good occasion too."
"If that's what you want to do," Ragna said as he examined to closed pot. "So what's on the menu tonight?"
"Well," Liz opened up the pot and Ragna's eyes grew wide. "By the looks of it I say were about to enjoy some digitally simulated Yellow chicken curry with potatoes over udon." Liz turned and noticed Ragna's reaction. "Ragna?"
'Oh F**KING HELL YES!' "What are you waiting for? Go on and serve it!"
"A-Alright..." Liz said as she gave a large nervous sweatdrop. 'What the hell's with him? It's just curry and udon, not like he's dining on prime cut steaks or anything.'
After dishing out the meal and pouring the wine, Liz brought a few chopsticks out of her menu.
"Itadakimasu!" They said to each other as they broke chopsticks. Ragna began to gorge himself on the food in front of him in a very speedy manner, yet at the same time, savoring every particle that was god's gift to him; UDON,topped with curry that he himself couldn't prepare much better.
"You... must really like curry and udon," Liz noted. "I guess you must've really missed them these past few months."
"You have no idea," Ragna said as he finished the bowl right then and there, all too soon for the Reaper. "I'll have to thank Asuna later, maybe try to figure out how to make the stuff."
"That'd probably be cool to do, but be careful, she might bribe you to join her guild with that."
"She wouldn't..." Ragna was now becoming nervous.
"Oh you bet she would, and if your reaction to the curry was anything to go off of, you'd go from red and black to red and white in a heartbeat."
'She's got to beexaggerating, I'd never do that,' Ragna thought to himself as he finished serving himself some more food and proceeded to take another bite. 'Oh shit I would!'
"Then again, it might be good for you," Liz said, giving Ragna a look of triumph. "You know that you've been a solo player for way too long. Why not give teaming up a chance?"
"Because I don't like having to go by someone else's rules," Ragna told her. "If I were put into a guild they'd just hold me back and tell me to wait for reinforcements or some crap. I know myself well enough to know when I can clear a floor by myself. Less risks to the others, all the fun for me. It's a win-win. Plus, quite a few players on the top guilds are assholes who think that they're better than the other players."
"They why don't you try opening your own guild?" Lisbeth asked. "That way you don't have to answer to anyone and you can only let the people you want to join up."
'...That's actually not a bad idea,' Ragna thought to himself. 'If I do it this way I can still fight alone when I need to and I can get everyone off my ass about not joining a guild.' "Fine, where do I get started?"
"Just open up your menu, you should come across how to do it in a moment."
It took Ragna a few minutes, but he managed to find what he needed after all. There were an array of options, some telling him if he could create specific guild colors, another to create a guild symbol, but the only necessary one was (of course) a guild name.
"So what are we going to call it?" Liz asked.
"What's this 'we' crap?" Ragna demanded.
"Well you're going to need someone to manage your weapons and armor and I think I'm the right person for the job. Plus I'm helping you make it right now, so I guess that makes me your second-in-command."
"...I guess," Ragna admitted. "As long as I don't need to follow any bullshit rules it'll be worth it." Ragna then paused at the thought. In a way this could translate to a fitting name, one that both symbolized the life he lived for and his fight against his current prison. Ragna typed in the name, created a symbol that matched the one on his chest, but didn't bother setting a uniform or color set. "Looks like we're set."
Liz noticed the symbol to the right of Ragna's health bar. "Where'd you come up with that design?"
"Just a tattoo I got a long time ago," Ragna said as he tapped a few buttons sent her a request. "You sure you know what you're getting into?"
Liz took a look at the guild name and smirked. "You're really going with that name?" Ragna nodded. "I guess it's fitting in a way, so what the hell?" The Blacksmith accepted the invitation, the same symbol appearing next to her. She then raised her wine glass. "I think this calls for a toast."
"I guess it does," Ragna said with a smile as he raised his own wine glass. "To the guild?"
Liz nodded and the two clinked glasses before shouting as one:
"To REBELLION!"
Author'sNote: Don't own nothing.
Same story as before, more character interaction and dialogue, but I guess I liked this chapter. If you guys were hoping for an insta harem with Asuna starting off, sorry todisappoint, it'll take longer than that. Alright, now for reviews.
Shirosaki Kizuro: Avoiding destruction is going to take a while to get to, but I hope that everyone's hoping that I don't rush this like they did in SAO. I'll give some more context along the way.
Zaralann: More you say? Here you go.
Hudson Yang: *Grins* Check 'Azure Guilt.' You'll get the next best thing.
Neutral40: I actually made Ragna to where he's relying less on the BlazBlue and more on his own strength in order to minimize the current risks.
Marconator360: Thanks for the support. Any ideas are welcome.
Adv: As tempting as it is, I don't think so. I might include a bonus chapter with random BlazBlue characters showing up.
Sir MIDNIGHT The Fallen One: Thanks, wasn't sure how fans would react to Sanae, but for now it seems I'm not causing big problems.
Shadowedge27: Having the BlazBlue turn Ragna into theBlack Beastis an interesting event, but it still remains to be seen if that's going to happen at all down the line.
Laxard: Maybe I'll give Kirito a small cameo here or there, but I don't think he'll be part of theoriginalgame at all. Maybe I'll have him show up in a cut to the real world.
Dread Grim Reaper: If this story's still going strong in a year, expect a Birthday chapter for Ragna in here.
Until next time guys, Ciao.