SAOK: New Year Resolutions

This article, , is the tenth chapter of Sword Art Online (Kenji). It is the final chapter of the aforementioned work to take place in 2022, with subsequent chapters taking place after the New Year.

It was New Years Eve and when I woke it was well past noon. The twins where already up and about and when I approached the door I found a little scroll attached to it.

«We're going to meet Raixas today. We'll be back by 13:00. Hope you slept well!»

I quickly checked the time. Whew, I still had time for a quick bite. I very nearly had the note pushed to the back of my mind when its contents flashed across my vision once again. I didn't know who this "Raixas" was but chances where high I wasn't going to like him. In fact... I was probably going to kill him.

I descended the stairs to the inns dining room and absolutely gorged myself. Fruit, some kind of cereal-looking dish, various pieces of sweet bread and something that looked like bacon was piled high atop my plate.

"Wow, look whose finally decided to wake up."

Asuka seated herself opposite me and skewered a piece of my bacon-lookalike and popped it into her mouth. I watched her chew a moment as her face went through several complex emotions before settling on what I could only describe as sour.

"That tastes terrible."

"Yeah, Elise has kinda spoiled inn food for me. Everything she makes is so much better."

We talked about trivial junk until I was mostly finished eating.

"Where is everyone?"

"Arashi, Shiro and Jiro are down in Rovia. Ryne said something about having a New Year special tour to organise and rounded them up like schoolboys." We chuckled at the thought. "As for me I wanted a little time away from moneymaking and questing and levelling."

"... Yeah, it can get pretty overwhelming."

"You free today?"

"The twins are meeting me here in a little bit. After that though I'm free."

"Message me when you finish up, okay?"

"Sure,"

My business with the twins originally included only Sheila. She was going to reforge my «Scimitar» but I suppose I needed the same done for my «Pale Edge» now. Then there was the business of appraisal.

"Afternoon!"

I got a big hug from each of them the moment they entered the dining room. I still had a few pieces of the sweet bread left and they gobbled it down without so much as a by-your-leave. With that done they quickly dragged me from the room and out into the garden outside. Sheila promptly prepared her Vendor's Carpet and materialised her anvil and blacksmith hammer onto the carpet.

"I've been looking forward to this!"

What she ended up doing was turning my «Scimitar» into an ingot. This yielded to me a «Razor Ingot» and once my «Pale Edge» was turned into an ingot she further reduced that to base materials, the likes of which I hadn't seen before. I provided the maximum number of materials, combined with the higher quality stuff Sheila herself had gathered when we'd been in the «Dead Woods Mausoleum», and the result was a nice heap of ore and monster materials.

"You ready?" Sheila asked me.

"... No, but go ahead."

In terms of availability, damage and overall stats the «Scimitar» I used was slightly superior to other monster drops on the 1st Floor. The «Stout Brand» and «Wind Fleuret» came to mind and so long as Sheila ended up hitting the heated ingot at least 20 times I'd have a better weapon than it had been before. She struck once every 2 seconds. When it reached 20 I released the breathe I'd been holding but when she struck it a further five times I inhaled sharply all over again! My head started spinning when she reached 30! But still she didn't stop. The ingot blazed like the morning sun. 35. 36. 37!

I felt like crying.

The final blow was the 45th and with that final strike made the ingot morphed and coalesced into a new form. Resting on the anvil was a one-handed curved sword with the hilt of a katana and a long, thick blade that ended with a curved, massive tip. Given the size of the top portion I held full belief it would pack a wallop when swung! Elise and Sheila where both looking over my shoulder as I brought up the details of the new sword.

«Razer» and beside its name: 20 upgrade attempts.

"Girls," I whispered. Their ears perked up. "Cover your ears. Kishi has a lot of happy swearing to do."

There wasn't a man, woman, child, player or NPC who weren't looking at me with mouths agape! The filth that flowed from my mouth would have shamed a sailor. But I didn't give a damn. I didn't even need to read the finer details of attack, speed or durability to know that I'd lucked onto a ridiculously powerful sword. By virtue of its upgrades alone it was roughly three times as powerful as my «Scimitar».

It was a good two or three minutes of unreserved swearing before I calmed down enough to produce the three items we got in the dungeon for Elise to look at. The sword she appraised turned out to be a two-handed sword called the «Dwarven Defender» whilst the cloth turned out to be a rare relic that netted us almost 10,000 cor. The small vial, however, was not an item that was appraised but rather a mixed item made using the «Mixing» Skill.

"That's a level 2 poison vial." Elise handed it back to me. "Apply it to the blade for extra damage. When it runs out I'll be able to refill it, provided you bring me materials, of course."

"... I feel like I'm talking to a mini Ryne here." She only grinned at that. "How many applications does it have?"

"Five. Each use lasts an hour."

"Good for boss battles then. But I need one more favour then you two can run along. This," and I materialised the «Gloves of the Defiant». "I can't see its properties."

She appraised it quickly.

"LA Bonus?" I nodded. "They increase Accuracy by 5."

With their work done they where about to disappear out the door again when I stopped them short.

"One question: whose Raixas?"

"The «Scimitar» guy!" Sheila exclaimed. "He's been helping us gather materials."

"Do I need to kill him? Or at the very least have a word with him?"

"There aren't that many our age in SAO, so please don't." Elise begged.

"... Awwww, I was looking forward to that. Anyway, I'll see you two later!"

And with them out of the way I had a date of my own to keep. But before that I had a New Years resolution to make. I didn't usually bother but this year seemed significant.

"I will clear this game."

End.