//------------------------------//
// Episode 51 — Holly’s Eve 
// Story: EQG: Sword Art Online - Ruby Palace 
// by Mindrop 
//------------------------------//

Episode 51 — Holly’s Eve
Twenty-Fourth Day in the Month of Holly (December 24) in the Year of the Dragon
Floor 35 — Front Line 49

December Twenty-Fourth. That was the current date. They had been trapped in Sword Art Online almost fourteen months prior. Over fifteen hundred players had died since. Players had risen to fame and then flopped. Guilds had come and gone in similar fashion. The Knights of the Bloodoath now led their efforts to free the players, while Kibaou was sulking on the first floor. The Divine Dragon Alliance was always vying to be the strongest, but their council had lost touch with who they originally were. 

Despite the ups and downs, the Wondercolts were stable. They had been the most stable element since this death game started. Nothing has shaken them. They had taken on field bosses and floor bosses. They had been, at minimum, strong players in each floor boss raid. And they now had their own headquarters. 

Bladescape cut down the bipedal ant that came at her through the narrow crevasse. The location proved to be great for grinding XP. The ant hill supplied a very steady stream of the ants, but they were forced to come at the players one at a time due to the terrain. With low defense and high attack, it was easy to eliminate an ant, suffer the delay, and come out of the delay with plenty of time to prepare for the next one. 

Bladescape was killing time while doing some solo leveling. She was nearly at level 70, which would give her a new skill slot. No one else in the guild was close enough to push it. Most everyone was getting their headquarters ready for the Christmas festivities. Doombunny had some business that likely was over by now. Diemond had several projects that she was working on, and Konpeito and Reisenki had gone shopping for food.

But it was not just in their headquarters. Mishe had snow gently falling for atmosphere and decorations hung. Most cities had been decked out for the holidays. Players barely cared last year. Now they had more to celebrate. There was still plenty to mourn, but they could celebrate plenty and most were. It might be Aincrad, but it felt right to celebrate the holidays that they could. 

The Wondercolts would be hosting a dinner in their headquarters for some friends. Agil had accepted the invitation. Although they rarely fought beside him anymore, they saw him fairly often as they sold excess equipment to him. He moved the good stuff to the intermediate players who needed it to make it to the front; not that his vendor cart appeared to be a charity. It wasn't and that was the beauty of it. How it functioned mattered more than how it looked, especially with the egos most gamers had. He knew how to drive a fair and hard bargain, or appear to do so, while barely making a profit so that they could advance the front. 

Lisbeth had also accepted the invitation. They worked pretty often with the smith. It was rare for them to get a weapon enhanced by someone else. She was good at what she did and since the Foundry had fallen apart, she was alone. Alone and still running her business off the vendor carpet. Most crafters were and she was still using inns. Her profits were basically reinvested into materials to make new things to build her skill levels and therefore allow her to make better equipment. She couldn't afford a permanent place to rest her head and would also be spending the night in their guest room. The same could not be said of their other friends. 

Fuurinkazan, as a guild, had been fun to get to know. They were a solid guild and good guys who had proven to be fun to clear dungeons with when they needed a third party. It wasn't Bladescape's suggestion to invite them, but she wasn't going to resist it once it had been put out there during their planning meeting. It would certainly strengthen ties between the two guilds, something that could easily prove to be a huge benefit in the long run. 

Bladescape could put up with Klein's boyish antics and pick-up lines. She was used to him being a goof. The amount it annoyed her was dwindling and something that she had realized a while ago was on her, not him. It had devolved into a jest, a rhythm, or a regular exchange. He meant nothing more of it than to get a laugh at his goofiness through self-deprecation. Bladescape was too hyper focused and needed to relax more. Klein was a good guy with a solid head on his shoulders who led Fuurinkazan for a reason. Just observing him fight made that evident.  

Kiefer, Soryuto, and Reisenki had two other friends, Alnair and Gauvaine, they had started SAO with, however, they were quietly residing in the Town of Beginnings. They were too afraid to leave the safety of the town and they rarely saw each other because of their respective choices. Alnair and Gauvaine were a “maybe” for dinner because of it. It would depend on if they could get Gauvaine to leave the inn room. If they couldn't, Soryuto, Kiefer, and Reisenki would bring them food a little later on. They would spend at least part of the holiday together as friends, like they should.

Kirito was a no. He had quietly declined the offer. Something else was bugging him. He was more aloof than usual, as well as mopey. Asuna was also a no, spending time with her guild, as they had something planned. Neither of their choices were unexpected, but they were important offers to extend.

Argo was a maybe. She couldn't commit to anything, ever, and the game was still going to be progressed by some players. Not everyone would take a holiday break. With many people taking a break, it would be a good time for her to clear some quests. The offer was a standing one, leaving it up to her. She at least knew there were players who wanted her around for the holidays. 

Yuna had perished two months prior, making inviting her impossible. Her small team had fractured without her, going their separate ways. The Wondercolts didn't have contact with them and couldn't send invitations. Knightstar had been working with quite a few players recently to gather some intel, but they all were getting together with other friends. 

The holidays were a time of family and friends, yet they also highlighted when you didn't have as many friends as you thought. The Wondercolts knew a good chunk of players, but they were close to relatively few. 

While they had declined the meal, Meigibu would swing by later for some shared dessert. They had mealtime plans with their guild. It was probably for the best because of the size of their guild. Dessert was easier to feed a lot of people than a full meal would be. Meigibu was triple the size of the Wondercolts. 

Regardless, Konpeito, backed by Reisenki, were going all out on the meal. The shopping list was full of "A Class" ingredients, which came with a hefty price. They were not as rare and costly as "S Class" food items, but they had given Konpeito an ample budget to purchase what she needed to make the massive meal. How she got it done was up to her. She knew what it would cost to get the ingredients and their council didn't. Konpeito had never been this excited about a meal, at least not in Aincrad, and neither had any of the Wondercolts. She fed them all well, but she was bent on breaking all previous expectations. 

Bladescape leveled up when it was nearly ten O’clock. She had five minutes left in her rotation and decided to finish it out. Then she backed out, swapping with the next player waiting. It was exciting to get to Level 70, but only for the big Seven-O, not for the skill slot. All nine of her skills were combat or support of the combat skills. Two-Handed Sword, Weapon Defense, and Blade Throwing were straight combat skills. Leather Armor supported her defense stats. First Aid was a one-time booster for how well potions reacted with her, but more importantly it was a key step to unlocking Battle Regeneration, which automatically restored health while in combat. Search was a utilitarian support Skill that had combat and non-combat uses. Sprint helped her mostly in combat to not fall so far behind their faster players, specifically Natora and Thunderborne, and provide them with backup if the tanks were lagging behind. Extended Weight Carry was a great support Skill, as it basically negated the weight of her equipment and allowed her to carry more stuff. A long dungeon dive or full day in a labyrinth could easily fill up the carry limit of a player. Sure, things could be ditched, but not having to sort the junk out in the field was nice. It was easy to miss the value of certain items while sorting in the field. 

Bladescape knew well ahead of time what she would be choosing. She set her tenth skill as Acrobatics. Since she was using Leather Armor, which was lightweight, much of her defense came through evasion. She could certainly take a hit, but she wasn't a tank. That particularly mattered for her ability to act after taking a heavy hit, or rather, lack of an ability to act. If she could avoid a strike, she would. Acrobatics would boost her ability to dodge as well as give her new attack angles to work with once she could leap higher. She would always be a more grounded fighter, unlike Thunderborne, Natora, or Asuna. The three of them could practically float through large groups of monsters, but they all had lighter weapons. Bladescape's swords were getting very heavy. They were beyond heavy in the real world, technically unusable, but her strength was also beyond what she could obtain in the real world. 

Bladescape headed back to the closest teleport plaza and went back to Mishe. Her shoulders had a dusting of snow on them by the time she made it to their headquarters. She brushed it off and stepped inside. 

The city has been revamped to look festive, but it had nothing on their headquarters. Bladescape had left before they had started decorating it. Now it was full of wreaths, evergreen garlands, holly, pinecones, and red bows. It was an impressive display they had put on. She had not realized they were going to go as far as they did. If she had, she would have stayed to help. Today was supposed to be preparatory, not actual work. They didn't do any clearing because too many members needed to specifically prep some element for tomorrow’s gathering. 

She heard laughter coming from the dining room and headed there. The next door over was Diemond's crafting room. It was closed and had a "KEEP OUT" sign taped on it. Around the dining room table were Natora, Knightstar, Thunderborne, Konpeito, Reisenki, and Lisbeth. They were enjoying some treats and hot coco. 

"Blade!" Konpeito exclaimed, hopping out of her chair with joy. "Join us!"

"Alright," Bladescape said, unequipping her sword before taking a seat. Konpeito put a mug of coco in front of her. "The place looks great. I didn't realize you were doing as much as you did. Now I feel bad about not helping."

"That wasn't the plan," Knightstar clarified. "But once we got going," she shrugged, "well it was fun and we didn't have a reason to stop."

"Was your day successful?" Natora asked. 

"Yes, it was successful," Bladescape said with a smile as she sniffed the mug of coco. It was hard to believe it wasn't real. "I hit my personal level quota." She couldn't stand being coy, even with Lisbeth present. "I hit level Seventy."

Lisbeth choked on her cookie in surprise. "That puts you as one of the highest level players in SAO, right?"

"Yes, it does," Bladescape said with a nod. 

Her Silver Sagacity Circlet allowed her to see other players' level stats as part of its vague base visual perception boost, but she had to keep reminding herself that she was the exception to the rule. No one else saw it. Kirito had been grinding hard to get to 70 and he beat her by about an hour or so. They both had several levels on everyone else, including Commander Heathcliff. Learning to put a filter on that ability was tough, but something she was working on. Their levels were private for a reason. She did not want to intrude on that. It wasn’t why she had the circlet. 

"Did you at least choose a non-combat, fun, skill?' Thunderborne asked. 

"You're one to talk," Bladescape shot back. "You're straight combat like me. Acrobatics might be fun to you, but that's not how it's seen by the system."

Thunderborne huffed, defeated by her own argument. 

"How focused are you all?" Lisbeth asked. "If you want to tell me. I get it if you don't."

"Most of us are fully combat," Natora admitted. "Some have a skill or two that are breaks. Fishing, cooking, sewing, musical instruments, and such. Being on the front necessitates that focus."

"It's not much different than me," Lisbeth said. "I have mace and shield skills for when I need to personally gather materials, but otherwise I'm fully focused on the weapon crafting skills. You're on the front, so it makes sense."

"It just doesn't help during down time and mandatory breaks," Natora added. "But yes, we have to primarily be focused there. Diamond is our most diverse player, since she is crafting our armor, or trying to, but those are a smaller list of skills than the weapon creation ones."

"Yes, they are,” Lisbeth said, with a nod before grabbing a cupcake. "Still. I wouldn't change my path. I'm satisfied with my progress and can hold my own in a fight."

"And that’s what matters," Bladescape said. "Side question, as I assume Diemond is crafting, but where are Doom, Kiefer, Soryuto, and Malus?"

"Diemond's craft room is the only one we couldn't decorate," Knightstar stated. "She closed the door and won't let anyone in. We have no idea what exactly she is doing."

That was more secretive than Diemond usually was. Something clearly had her occupied.

"Malus is fishing," Thunderborne explained. "She'll be back before breakfast. Kiefer and Soryuto are doing something, but I'm not sure what. They left after dinner, before Lis got here. Doom is doing her best to increase her drug mixing skills. She hasn't had a lot of time to experiment lately."

They stayed chatting a little later than they should have. Bladescape showed Lisbeth to their guest quarters. She was impressed at the set up. It always seemed cramped to Bladescape, but with the dividers, they successfully partitioned off the room into six mostly private sleeping areas. It was more than enough for Lisbeth, especially for a night or two.

Lisbeth knew where Bladescape's room was if she needed anything, so Bladescape retired to her bedroom. She hung her sword up on the wall and manually removed her equipment, placing the armor on its own stand. There was something peaceful about doing so. Putting it on when it was hung up wasn't just a few clicks. It was still pretty quick, but not nearly instantaneous like it was when it was in her inventory. When she put her equipment on the stand or rack, it was going to stay there for at least a day. She didn't do it every night, so it signaled to her brain that the next day was special. That she could relax, a least a little bit more than normal.

Her sword was not mounted, although the rack looked similar. Mounting a sword permanently made it a wall hanging, not a weapon, meaning it did not degrade like equipment's durability always did. She did have several others mounted, like the Valerian Shashka and the Ancient Red Sun Sword. Her Ancient Mountain Sword was not mounted either because she used it to practice Iaido on the roof. 

When she could practice Iaido, she did. Bladescape was still on the first form and didn't know if she would ever try to advance. She didn't want to form any bad habits if she messed up the form. That's why instructors were there, to guide and adjust her form. It was relaxing in ways, yet it also helped her focus. She usually did it the morning of a boss fight to prepare her body and mind for the upcoming raid. It wasn't something that completely decoupled her from the front line and provided her rest. 

Bladescape didn't have anything to sort out of her inventory. The ant hill was great because they only dropped a little bit of Col. While grinding away for XP, her inventory wasn't being filled up with junk. 

With her pajamas on, Bladescape laid down in bed. She still had not dreamt since diving in SAO. Some part of her had hoped that getting her own room would change that, but it hadn't. She rarely remembered her dreams back home, but she knew she dreamt at night. Now she didn't, yet she knew that the others did dream normally, or normal for them. Konpeito had a continuously playing dream adventure in a world full of sugar and candy. 

Besides sometimes being groggy, the only way she knew she had slept was that the clock in her vision, when her eyes were open, had changed by a significant amount. She closed her eyes at 02:31 and opened them at 08:41. A little over six hours had passed in the blink of an eye. Her time in Aincrad was almost like one long day. The night or sleep didn't create the feeling of a break or pause. That was, in her opinion, why it was much easier for her to grind away at night for XP while the others struggled to push themselves when they really got tired. Daily the others reacted like they had slept, she failed to. That was ultimately very concerning, but something she knowingly pushed out of her mind. She couldn't worry about a potential crash because there was no way to stop or fix how she was functioning. Perhaps it was a form of FNC, FullDive Non-Conformity. Ultimately it didn't matter because she wasn't harmed or hindered by it. She still fought bosses and was one of the best in the Assault Team. To date, she had not missed any of the boss raids.

What did almost harm her was the package she nearly tripped over. She hadn't seen it in front of her door when she opened it. Several other doors had packages in front of them as well. This one had her name on it. She brought it inside and closed her door. It was wrapped in green paper with a red bow. She unwrapped it and found a luxurious set of silk lounge wear that accented her olive skin yet pulled out her eyes in a way only Rarity, no matter what dimension, reality, or name, could pull off. They had told their guests to come in relaxed clothes. These were nice enough, and not revealing, that they could be appropriate to wear all day, especially in the setting Diemond had envisioned for the day.

Bladescape changed into them and headed downstairs. She could hear Konpeito in the kitchen, laughing and babbling away as she cooked or baked. It sounded like others, besides Reisenki, were in the kitchen too, except Konpeito wasn't letting anyone say anything. That wasn't unusual. The extra people in the Kitchen were Malus, Doombunny, and Thunderborne. They each were in the special loungewear Diemond had made them. Konpeito's made her look like a candy chef and Reisenki's was basically the same, but manly. Black and red were much more manly colors, and sharper, than pastel pink and pastel blue. His also wasn't made to mimic any confections, while hers definitely did with bits of fabric that looked like sprinkles.

Konpeito wasn't working on breakfast, not yet, so there was no need for Diemond to be up after her very late night. They were planning on a late breakfast since the special meal would be later than a normal lunch to allow for everything to be made. Still, Konpeito had breakfast snacks for them. 

"How did fishing go?" Bladescape asked Malus as she picked out a mini muffin.

"Caught some mighty fine ones," Malus said. "I sold most of em or gave em away, but I snagged a few A Class species that were a good size. Konpeito is gonna add em to the menu."

"There's no such thing as too much food!" Konpeito exclaimed. "We have a lot of mouths to feed."

"Nice," Bladescape said as she ate the mini muffin. 

"Did you get your level?" Malus asked.

"Yep," Bladescape nodded. "I'm level seventy."

"Nice," Malus said, fist bumping Bladescape. "Fishing leveled me up too. That was a happy surprise."

"I didn't see you last night, Doom," Bladescape said. "I know I got in late. I was told you were working on more poisons from Colorra. How did that go?"

"That's only half true," Doombunny sweetly stated. "Colorra is snoozing after her feeding, she is happy to have the day off from fighting. She can get me more venom because of it, however, I wasn't working with it yesterday. I was trying other ingredients."

"How does that work?" Malus asked. "I understand mixin from the bakin I've done, but I've been too chicken to ask about your drug Skill."

"Think of chemistry class," Doombunny explained. "Like, any of the chemical reactions we did where solutions changed colors and properties. That's what mixing is. There are distilling agents and concentration agents, sort of like acids and bases. Combined with one or more other ingredients they will either create a liquid that causes a negative effect or a positive effect. Positive effects are healing or status removal. Negative would be poison or paralyzing agents. I need to find what else works while I also build up a stockpile of Colorra's venom. Ruby Krait venom is probably the rarest mixing ingredient in Aincrad. They certainly won't make it easy to get and, unless you are willing to consistently risk your life killing them for a tiny amount of it, well, otherwise you can't farm it. I can farm it thanks to Colorra. Once I know more about what works and what doesn't, I can start to begin to experiment with her venom to create stronger and longer lasting poisons and anti-poisons. 

"There may be other positive enhancers that are currently undiscovered. Only time will tell as the herbalists start to investigate it." 

"Herbalists?" Thunderborne asked. "I thought we were talking about drug making?"

"Yes," Doombunny said with a nod. "Since I came out in the boss raid meeting, a few others have taken up the skill as herbalists. They only make positive items. They don't deal with poisons or venom. They can do some general anti-poison herbal solutions using bases to soak up the acids."

"It's a semantics game," Bladescape stated. "The skill can do both positive and negative things, so they use a name that emphasizes the positive side."

"Mhm," Doombunny curtly replied. 

Natora joined them in the kitchen. She was excited to try the fish Malus had caught. She had been craving sashimi, but any fish would do. Konpeito hadn't cooked anything with fish yet. Fish wasn't the most accessible in Aincrad, there were not any commercial fisheries, and they were from freshwater sources, not the open ocean. If that even mattered in Aincrad.

Kiefer and Soryuto were the next to join them, but they had come from the Town of Beginnings. They had spent the night there, in the nicest inn in the city, with Alnair and Gauvaine. They had been trying to encourage Gauvaine to do more than cower in fear in the same, small, inn she had secluded herself to. There was a good chance the two of them would join the Wondercolts for the celebration, even if it was just for a short bit. Both of them headed off to change out of their regular clothes to match with everyone else. When they came back, Lisbeth and Knightstar were with them. Lisbeth's lounge wear was wine-red and gold with black accents, which matched well with her brown hair and brown eyes. 

They were just missing Diemond, which was expected and fine. Her door had a "do not disturb" sign on it and the crafting room was still labeled off limits. Diemond had done a lot the day before to make their Christmas tablecloth and napkins, as well as about half of the other decorations, before setting off on whatever project that had ultimately consumed her. It seemed like it was more than the clothing she had gifted them to wear today. No matter where she was, Diemond was a fashionista who lived by the seasons of fashion and listened to the call of inspiration. 

When breakfast finally came, it was a relaxed affair. Most of them had been snacking anyway, so they didn't need much to satisfy their half-filled stomachs. Afterwards, they had to move the dining room table to the meeting hall. 





BLADESCAPE: Level 70 — Two-Handed Sword — Searching — Weapon Defense — Leather Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Sprint —  Blade Throwing — Extended Weight Carry — Acrobatics 
NATORA: Level 68 —  Two-Handed Spear — Purchase Negotiations — Sales Negotiation — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Acrobatics — Armor Pierce 
KNIGHTSTAR: Level 64 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Equipment Appraisal — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Acrobatics — Extended Weight Carry — Armor Pierce
MALUS: Level 66 — One-Handed War Hammer — Heavy Shield — Heavy Metal Armor — First Aid — Extended Weight Carry — Battle Regeneration — Fishing — Search — Martial Arts
THUNDERBORNE: Level 66 — Rapier — Sprint — Acrobatics — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Armor Pierce — Martial Arts
KONPEITO: Level 66 — Two-Handed Axe — Cooking — Weapon Defense —  Light Metal Armor — Martial Arts — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Music — Blade Throwing — Bard
DIEMOND: Level 68 — Mace — Heavy Shield — Sewing — Heavy Metal Armor  — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Light Metal Armor Forging — Heavy Metal Armor Forging — Extended Weight Carry
DOOMBUNNY: Level 64 — One-Handed Dagger — Hide — Fighting Spirit — Blade Throwing — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Familiar Cooperation — Mixing — Search — Listen 
KIEFER: Level 65 — One-Handed Curved Sword — Slash Weapon Forging — Light Metal Armor  — Weapon Defense — First Aid  — Katana — Battle Regeneration — Slash Weapon Forging — Blade Throwing
SORYUTO: Level 64 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Music — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Fighting Spirit — Armor Pierce — Acrobatics  
REISENKI: Level 64 — One-Handed Axe — Heavy Shield — Heavy Metal Armor — Equipment Repair — Metal Equipment Repair — First Aid —  Battle Regeneration — Cooking — Metal Refining