author notes: hello again! thanks for coming back to read the next chapter. i will be trying to get a few chapters of this out decently quickly and then i may slow down in order to come up with more ideas for this. aside from that, reviews are always helpful, i would love to hear everyone's thoughts. thanks again and enjoy the next chapter.
disclaimer/ still don't own SAO, i know crazy right?
Lowell and Asuna ran, ran away from the Town of Beginnings, they ran until they couldn't run anymore. Out of breath and breathing heavily, the two finally stopped and sat down.
"hah, hah, okay take a moment and then open your inventory. There should be a book in there. It has tons of tips for beginners and should help you get a decent grasp of things. Once you're done with that it's time to grind" Lowell said as he sat on the ground next to Asuna.
"okay, just let me catch my breath." Asuna said looking down. She was still startled after the whole ordeal. She was still playing catch up mentally and emotionally. She was glad she had run into Lowell when she had, he was the rock holding her in place now.
Lowell opened his menu and started looking through the drops he had gotten. It was all materials and a single potion. "we need to fight stronger enemies, find some quests." Lowell muttered to himself. He looked up to see Asuna was reading the book, so he had time to assort his level up. He had already decided Dex and strength would probably be his strong suit. He would focus longsword skills. Detect hidden and traps would be helpful down the road, so would alchemy, make his own potions rather than buy them all the time, but would that be the best option? After all he could just buy the potions and dedicate those points to something else. Lowell sighed, never before had decisions like this meant so much, it was life or death now, not just a small setback of things don't go well.
"that was a lot of information." Asuna said as she put the book back in her inventory.
"wha? Oh, uh yeah. Don't worry about retaining all of that, after all I am sure you'll pick things up fast. Though I suggest figuring out a play style fast so you can grind it out specifically." Lowell said.
"what would you recommend?" Asuna asked seeking guidance from an experienced player.
Lowell rested a hand on his chin as he thought for a moment, "well honestly I don't know. I haven't really seen how you fight. But give me an idea how you take on an enemy. Would you like to go with full brute force? Or speedy? Or maybe at a bit of a distance?' Lowell asked.
"I think speed is key. Be fast and never get hurt?" Asuna said questioning if her logic we sound.
"that sounds good, it's certainly a strategy people tried to use during the beta. I recommend a Rapier then. You can move fast and sting your enemies like a wasp and be gone before they know it." Lowell said.
Asuna Nodded and bowed "thank you for your help and being patient with me as I'm learning."
"I don't mind honestly I think it'll be nice to have someone to rely on out here. And I would honestly hate to see you die out here, I just want to help." Lowell said rubbing the back of his head. It was kind of embarrassing to him having someone look up to him like this. "okay well if we're going to be working together, I'm going to send you a friend request so we can message each other. And then we should forma party so we can keep an eye on our status." Lowell said as he opened his menu and sent both requests to Asuna. Lowell had to explain how to accept both requests and what they meant.
With the break over and the two now in an official party they set out to grind and for Lowell to teach Asuna how to play. They came across a small group of Kobalds when Lowell slowed his pace.
"these guys are going to be tough at our level so we should be patient and attack them one at a time. I'm going to show you how to use sword skills, they will be the best course of action to deal a lot of damage to the enemy. You have to be careful though because there is a minor cooldown period after you use one. So, make sure you hit them otherwise they will destroy your health. We will work on a new technique those of us in the beta learned. It's called switching. So, one of us will draw the enemy's attention while the other prepares to attack. The point of this is to unleash a flurry of sword skills against the enemy." Lowell said as he picked up a stone and looked to Asuna "you ready?"
Asuna nodded with a serious look and drew her sword "let's do it."
Lowell scanned the group of Kobolds looking for the one with the lightest armor as he twirled the stone in his hand. Picking his target, a kobold in leather that had a hammer, he threw the stone at the creature to draw its attention. As the stone hit the kobold, its head perked up and turned towards the direction of the attack.
"wait for it to come to us, we don't want to alert the others." Lowell said holding a hand to stop Asuna from charging it. He waited till the Kobold was a sufficient distance from the others before dropping his hand "go!" Lowell said as Asuna dashed ahead of him. Lowell followed right behind her ready to follow up on what she did. Asuna got close and used Vorpal Strike and dashed at the enemy in a thrust attack. This knocked the enemy back and then Lowell jumped over Asuna shouting "switch!" as he activated a new sword skill Cross Slash and slashed at the enemy in an X motion dropping its HP to the yellow. Lowell landed just in time to see Asuna get in front of him and attack the kobold once again. Lowell smiled, she picked this up quick. Taking the opportunity Lowell yelled "switch" again and Asuna stepped to the side just as Lowell used Vorpal Strike as well to plunge his blade into the Kobold dealing the fatal blow.
"we did it." Lowell said quietly, this had a different feeling than before. It was very different stakes if they fucked it up. It wasn't exactly fun this time, but terrifying. But they were still alive! That's what mattered. He turned to Asuna and smiled, "you did great! That's exactly how we should do this. And don't worry if you're scared of messing up. You'll learn as you go, and we will know how each other thinks and acts soon enough."
Asuna Smiled relieved to hear she did well "thank you, I'm glad you think so, I don't want to be a burden."
"you're not, in fact you're actually doing really well for a beginner." Lowell said turning to see if they alerted the rest of the Kobolds. Luckily, they hadn't yet. "but were not done yet, we got the rest of these Kobolds and many more fights ahead after that" Lowell said preparing himself mentally for what was to come. He was worried about the girl and how she would hold up to all this fighting. When Asuna walked to stand at his side holding her blade with determination Lowell smirked glad to see this girl seemed ready to fight and live another day.
"wanna lead the charge again?" Lowell asked
Asuna nodded and took off with a battle cry and Lowell followed behind blade at the ready.