Sword Art Online: Enhanced - Chapter 1.2 (Patreon)

You only had to think for a moment before the name of one of your favorite anime characters came to mind. The Hercules of Ireland he was sometimes called. The demigod child of light. Also, sometimes referred to as a dog.

[Input Name: Cu]

Then, you hit select, and your newly named Dire Wolf barked happily at his new name. You reached out and affectionately rubbed his head, "Who's a good murder puppy, you are, you are!" you gushed a little bit and Cu panted happily, big sloppy and drooling tongue drooping low from his mouth.

You pet him a bit more, before turning to the notification you'd gotten from defeating the second Dire Wolf and brushed through it. 40 Col and another Wolf Fang, a great haul all things considered. And of course, forty more experience.

[You have Levelled up! You are now Level 2!]
[You have Gained 5 Stat Points!]
[Level 2: 40/125]

'Just in time, I'm almost at the village.' you grinned and began allocating your stat points.

Once you were done, you whistled towards Cu who was sitting waiting on you patiently, "Come on boy, time to go get daddy a new shiny sword!" you said with a laugh, before taking off at your top speed.

It didn't take even a moment for Cu to catch up. His agility was higher than yours after all according to his stat page.

[Cu - Level 2: 0/125]
[HP: 400/400]
[Stamina: 200/200]
[Strength: 4]
[Vitality: 2]
[Agility: 4]
[Luck: 2]

Oddly, his health points and stamina had changed to reflect that like of an actual players stats. You weren't complaining. Not to mention, the two skills the wolf had suddenly got, that you knew the Dire Wolves themselves didn't have were interesting.

_______________

It took you another thirty minutes or so to finally make it all the way to Horunka Village. Along the way, with Cu now watching your back, you thought it was prudent to try and get some gains in your stats. So you kept using your acrobatic skill as long as you could and then sprinting for a second, waiting for it to recharge and doing it again.

It drained quite a bit of stamina, but with your newly upgraded stats and Cu, you felt you were safe to go about it.

Finally, you stepped into the small village of Hotonka. Unlike the Town of Beginnings, it wasn't very impressive at all. Hell, it was too small to be called a village in your opinion.

There was ten buildings all in, all surrounded by a large twenty foot tall circular wooden fence. At the other end of the village, you could see the towering trees of a forest, where you knew the events of the quest you were aiming for were took place. The Little Nepent Forest.

The only places that stood out at all, were four buildings. The Inn, the Tool Shop, the Weapon Shop that would probably sell an upgrade of some gear for you and the two story house of the NPC who gave out the quest you were looking for.

First things first, you made your way over to the Weapon Shop and browsed the NPC's wares.

Only one thing really stood out though. Well, two. The Iron Claymore, an upgrade from your normal Claymore. It gave +5 to the strength stat. But, considering you were in this 'village' for a much better sword, it would probably be a waste.

But, as far as armor went. Light Armour Boots and Vambraces both gave +3 to defence each, and there was a Leather Coat that gave +7 as a piece of torso armour, a definite upgrade to your chest armour. Pricey though for this early. While the boots and vambraces only cost 20 col a piece, the Leather Coat cost a whole 120. It would pretty much clear you out if you bought them all.

But, they were pretty much the best buyable armour for light armour on the first floor. The only better stuff you remembered was barbaric armour from the Kobolds and player made stuff. But the material for some armour enhancement required the sewing skill alongside the smithing skill for one person, because they used materials like fur, leather, scales and such. Otherwise, you'd need someone with smithing and another with sewing.

There was a few NPC's that could do it, but the quality of their works were lesser than anyone who had reached ten in either stat.

In the end, you decided to grab the coat and both the boots and vambraces. The extra defence would go along way this early. And you even got to sell your light leather chest piece for 10 col. Not much, but it got you a little bit back at least and it was useless to you now anyway.

Once done with that and equipping your new gear, you made your way towards the two story house your target was in and entered inside.

It was a small, quiet home and in the middle of the living room, sat a kindly faced older women, she sat atop her rocking chair beside the fireplace, rocking back and forth while knitting something. There was a sullen, sad look upon her face.

She looked up as you entered and smiled at you, even if her smile didn't quite reach her eyes, "Hello deary, is there anything I can help you with?" she asked gently.

"No, that's alright," you denied softly and made your way over towards her, "I heard a rumour though, that you could use some of my help actually."

She blinked a for moment before nodding lightly, "I really could use some help," she replied, "My daughter is sick you see, she likely won't make it. The only cure to her illness is a potion. I know how to make it, but the last ingredient I'm incapable of getting, just the same as everyone else in this quaint little village of ours."

The quest was called [Secret Medicine Of The Forest]. And it involved killing Little Nepents until they dropped the required item. The catch though was, there were three types of different Little Nepent. The normal ones that didn't drop it. The rarest ones that spawned with it, and the other that spawned with a fruit atop its head and if you hit the fruit, it would then attract all other Little Nepent in the area. They were pretty easy to kill, though packed a decent punch. Easy to deal with in little numbers, but when over fifty swarmed at a time if that fruit was hit..well, if you got surrounded, it was game over for a low level.

"The ingredient I need is called the Ovule of the Little Nepent," the woman explained to you, "Only a rare Little Nepent within the forest behind the village drop them, but with how many nepents there are, I'm afraid it is a suicide quest."

She sighed sadly before looking at you with teary, brown pleading eyes, "There isn't much I can offer, but I do have the family heirloom that is worth something, if you could retrieve the Ovule for me to save my daughter, I will gladly give it to you as a reward."

To state the obvious, her family heirloom, is the Anneal Blade.

"Right then, I accept." you replied. It was what you were here for after all.

The sad look on her face vanished briefly and a bright, pretty smile replaced it, "Oh thank you!" she bowed deeply towards you in gratitude.

"No need to thank me." you replied, before bidding her goodbye and heading towards the forest with Cu in tow.

It took only a few minutes to enter the forest. And from there, with how abundant the Little Nepents were while the quest was active, it didn't take you long to find any at all.

With Cu's tracking skill, he led you right to a clearing with five of them milling about.

To note, the name  Little Nepent was not at all accurate. They were nearly two meters tall. They looked like giant white radishes with horrifying lips atop them, and a pair of long white whip like tentacles, one on each side of their bodies.

They were ugly as fucking sin man.

You activated your appraisal skilled and appraised them all.

[Little Nepent - Level 3]
[Little Nepent - Level 3]
[Little Nepent - Level 3]
[Little Nepent - Level 3]
[Little Nepent - Level 3]

Well, nothing you couldn't deal with, especially when you had back up in the form of a Dire Wolf.

And to your utter surprise, one of the five, had a bright red flower atop its head. The Ovule.

'Well that was fucking easy.' you noted in bemusement. Problem was, once you finished the quest, you couldn't kill the Little Nepents anymore. And they would be perfect to grind on to level five at least with how many of them are in the area.

You circled around the clearing they were in with Cu to find a good spot, where they could only come at you both from a single file with their large bulk and nodded to your furry companion, "Drew them in with your howl, then we'll both attack at full strength." you said, hiding behind a tree at the single path, while Cu was behind another.

Cu nodded and peeked his head out looking at the Little Nepents, before howling loudly, then dipped back behind the tree. Immediately, a red glow warped around the giant raddish looking fucks bodies and they turned in your direction, wiggling their way over on their root like legs.

You waited until the first one was just about to step in between you both before acting, "Now! Cascade!" you shouted, lifting your blade up above your head, shining orange before slashing it down the side of the Little Nepent as soon as it stepped out between you both. At the side time, Cu snarled, body glowing red before his fangs followed suit and lunged forward, fangs tearing into the giant plant monster.

It gave a shuddering gasp from its lips, before bursting into polygons. "Again!" you commanded as the second in line stepped into the spot the first died in, "Cascade!"

You slashed into its side, and again Cu tore into its other side with his teeth. Then the third stupidly followed suit, and a repeat of the same destroyed it in a rain of polygons. As did the fourth.

And finally, you both stepped out, to see the fifth one in the middle of the clearing, having not stupidly followed the aggro howl.

"Woobwoobwoob!" it giggled? At you both before lashing out, sending massive whip like tentacles flying towards you. Before they could get anywhere near you though, and before you even had to do anything. Cu jumped into the air with a snarl and snatched one of them between his teeth and pulled hard, forcing it off balance, leaving it open.

With a roar, you shot forward, blade once again glowing orange, "Cascade!" you shouted, blade digging into its face and bisecting it down the middle, forcing it to burst into polygons.

"Oof." you slumped to your backside and wiped your brow, stabbing your sword into the ground beside you.

"Woof!" Cu happily barked and made his way over, sitting expectantly in front of you.

"Good job boy!" you praised, scratching him under the chin. "You made it so easy to beat them!"

And you were telling the truth. Being able to lure them with aggro into a single file and ambush from two different opponents at once made them easy as hell to take out. If you were alone, you'd have had to attack them yourself all at once since they were so bunched up.

[You have Levelled up! You are now Level 3!]

A second later, a level notification popped up over your head and you laughed. "That was fuckin' quick." you laughed.