|Sword Art Online, Floor 51, Town of Luminary|
|Jan. 23rd, 18:19|
When the lands of the world below were torn from the earth, many races, cultures, and beliefs were hoisted to form into the iron castle that now houses us. In those early years, many civilisations crumbled, swallowed by conflict or the darkness that was brought with the Great Separation. Those times were indeed humanity's darkest hour.
Yet, we persevered, loss was great for a time, some separated by the Celestial Towers and their guardians; however, those that endured, given the gift to prosper by those who gave up their lives so their people may survive, thrived. To remember those lost, to honour their sacrifices to the demons brought with us, we shall in turn give them a time dedicated to their memory.
These three days and three nights, we shall celebrate their courage and guide them through the night with the light they left with us. But not only for our people, but for the travellers that join us from the many worlds beneath our feet; in honour of their triumphs over the guardians. Come remember those you lost, celebrate a time of tranquillity with those you call friends and family. A look forward to the future left unseen.
May the Festival of the Radius welcome you, travellers.
The main Safe Haven of Floor 51. The first past the significant threshold of Sword Art Online. Over a year had passed in the blink of an eye, many have lost their lives to get them one step closer to the end of this Death Game. But now? Per the unanimous vote of the Frontrunners, all had agreed to a time of rest, to enjoy what this safer floor offered before they were thrust back into the hardships that awaited the labyrinths and floors above.
Luminary was the largest mountain island, many smaller, more distinct environments connected by arching redwood bridges to the harbour town that glowed a radiance akin to the sun. The harbour city was surrounded by mountains on three sides, forming a very small range that curved in a crescent. Beyond the mountains inland, there are vast foothills, plains, fords, and abundant mines full of precious ores. These ores are harvested and made into exquisite crafts at the hands of skilled craftsmen, NPC and player alike.
The architecture in Liyue is reminiscent of the style of ancient Chinese architecture, with similar colour schemes and hints, such as the eaved rooftops of many of the buildings and the warm colour palette. At the highest point of the city, Rì chū Terrace could be found to the north-western side of the harbour, serving as the Teleport Plaza and central hub for the floor's main questline. The terrace consisted of a manor-slash-temple for the main quest giver, various buildings off to either side and watch towers stationed at the large, circular entrance.
To the southern end of Luminary was the commercial district where many stores, vendors, and craftsmen set up shop on a sharp plateau that overlooked the sea. And to the north-eastern sector was the main bulk of the safe haven, a main road cutting from the Rì chū Terrace straight through the city towards the bridges that led off to the other isles. A sloped staircase separates the upper and lower levels of the area.
With the Festival of the Radius, everything was lit up and decorated with lanterns, streamers and tapestries, giving the already vibrant and lively city and added boon of excitement to explore with its upbeat and sometimes gentle music wafting through the air.
Nagi, alongside both his party and the Sleeping Knights, had gathered before the main quest giver who doubled as the introductory to the floor and its festival. Chen, Daughter of Xiaolong, was a young woman with bright orange eyes and long dark brown hair styled into two high twin-tails.
She wore a traditional red shirt with a mandarin collar, a brown coat with a darker collar and sleeve cuffs, and black shorts with gold accents. Golden brooches attached underneath her coat's collar and waist. She wears a pair of mid-calf length black socks along with low-heeled black dress shoes. Chen also wore rings on her index and middle fingers.
After presenting the group with the story of the festival, the group gave a polite applause, making Chen laugh and do a polite bow. "I'm sure now you'd like to drop all the formal chatter and explore Luminary far and wide, but if ya need anything, lemme know-It's my duty to help any and all guests of our floor feel at ease, and you've all certainly need it if you're the bunch that cleared the guardian below."
"We appreciate that, thank you, Miss Chen," Nagi returned her kind bow with his own, but she then lightly chopped him atop his head.
"No need for formalities-" She threw her hands wide with a quick twirl. "-it's a festival! Relax, have some fun, I sure will once my duties are all tidied away,"
"Yer sure upbeat for a noblewomaN," Argo couldn't help but point out, causing Chen to laugh sheepishly, head bopping side-to-side.
"My dad's the super-serious one, always uptight about everything, but not me, no sense fretting over every little detail when life's as short as it is, y'know?" She pressed her palms together, making some funny gestures while stuck in thought. "Heard a bunch of ya are already digging their hands into another iddy-biddy issue of mine, but don't let that distract ya from the festival! See ya around!"
"You're a lot like another person we know, Shirayuki," Yuuki added, enjoying the girl's bubbly energy.
"Knew this felt oddly familiar," Artorias remarked, the realization dawning on him.
Chen cocked her head to one side, index finger to her cheek. "'Shirayuki'? Hm... mmm... Nope! Never heard of them, sound like a riot!" Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "Oh! Before I forget, here, take this, consider it a fun little game to play during the festival!" From her sleeve, she dug around and pulled out a small shard of tile or ceramic that had been broken off of a larger object.
All of them leaned forward to inspect it. It wasn't much in the grand scheme of things, just a piece of bright-blue tile. Chen patiently waited for someone to take it, with all eyes gestured to Nagi who reached over and procured the item, seeing the name appear. "'Shard of Railaan'? It is a puzzle piece?"
"Looks like iT..." Argo gave the piece an intrigued look but without more shards she hadn't a clue.
"Sorta, see, there's this big ol' mural at the top of the cliff that overlooks the city," Chen raised her finger to point in the general direction, the group seeing a few motes of light trailing along parts of the mountains, clearly, they were pathways. "But the mural was shattered years ago, but people who find the pieces are urged to gather as many as they can find to help restore it. Strange thing is, they only ever appear during the Festival of the Radius," Even Chen gave a hopeless shrug. "Weird, am I right?"
"So it's a timed event, probably magical in origin," Ran deduced, looking amongst the others. "Does that mean it's a community event?"
"Ah, I hate those, the criteria is always so ridiculously high," Nori sighed, scratching her neck.
"Tell me about it, Destiny 2 comes to mind for such 'thrilling and engaging' events," Artorias rolled his eyes.
Ignoring the complaints, Nagi safely stored the shard in his inventory, giving Chen a smile. "I guess we'll see if we can't pitch in, no harm in trying, right?"
Pointing directly at his nose, Chen grinned ear-to-ear. "That's what I like to hear! A scavenger hunt always adds another layer to the festivities!"
"We'll not keep ya busy then, see yA," Argo waved, the others doing the same as Chen returned it with a playful wink.
"Have fun~!" Again, Chen showed a level of complex intelligence that made her almost entirely human on interaction alone, not just with them, but every player she spoke with.
Approaching the exit to Rì chū Terrace, players were running to and from the grand, red circular archway, lanterns swayed on posts further down the small flight of steps where some stalls were already set up. A biggest perk of this floor, almost anywhere, aside from selection locations and the Terrace, could have stalls ranging from small ones to larger booths depending on the location. Meaning, even a beginner player could have a quick shop set up, even without any skills tailored to trading, though those did significantly boost income.
"Well then, Boss, what's on the docket after our glorious triumph over the 50th Floor?" Artorias hopped the steps, turning to look curiously at Nagi.
He smiled in return, "Enjoy ourselves really, we don't need to focus on the main quest for the time being, anyone that is shouldn't run into any problems, right?" Nagi glanced at Argo, the broker nodding while wagging her finger.
"Yep, Ki-bou's gone and scouted the regions, nothin' normal folk can't handle, seems the game's set on givin' us some R&R after that extensive quesT," Argo was actually pretty content herself to have a break for a change. Primarily spending that time with her shinobi in particular, but that intel's hush-hush.
"I want to find a contest of strength, or a battle arena," Daora rubbed his hands together eagerly.
"You should focus on finding yourself better equipment," Mito suggested. "Just something to temporarily bring your stats up for the next floor boss,"
"No way! Not until I have the greatest armour forged by the greatest blacksmith!" Again, Daora put his foot down on the matter, much to Mito's dismay. No matter how dangerous the 50th floor proved to be, no one could get him to change his equipment, not even Nagi could persuade him.
"How about this then," Nagi prompted with a gesture to Daora. "You can keep the equipment you have until you find the last materials you need, BUT-" The raven-brunette froze Daora mid-laugh, looking serious. "-you have to fight with Mito at the very least for every battle, I know you're strong, Daora, but I don't want to even consider the idea of you dying, okay?"
"..." A strained grumble escaped Daora, his hands twitching for a moment before he waved his finger toward Nagi. "Graaah, fine, you have a deal! Only her and no one else, got it!?"
That brought a sigh of relief from the purplette and a look of gratitude from Nagi. "Deal," His eyes closed for a moment. "Be sure to have some fun too,"
"Hahahaha, you bet!" The wolf-man swung out his fist, then got into a low stance. "Oh, my first opponent, perfect!"
"Huh?" Several chimed, looking around before the heavy thumps of feet grew louder, followed by a gust of wind beside Nagi as he stumbled back, two large white paws leapt up onto Nagi's shoulders, the weight of the entity nearly toppling him over as he yelped in surprise, the others almost immediately drawing their weapons before the creature registered in their eyes.
It was a large Dire Wolf with the same distinct white fur but its back and stomach were instead a navy colour with big brown eyes as it barked in Nagi's face, licking him. "Y-you're quite the hugger! Hehe, come now, down," He eased the wolf off his shoulders, wiping his face with his sleeve as the wolf sat excitedly before them.
"Wait... I know this wolf..." Mito blinked in surprise, quickly looking around for someone.
"Zeus, for God sake, stop attacking everyone you see!" From one of the stalls nearby, the player that appeared to own the Dire Wolf ran over, looking flustered by the wolf's actions. "I swear, first you frighten one of them and nearly get impaled, idiot," He flicked the wolf, Zeus, on the ear, making him sit still, panting happily. "Sorry, really, I have no control over him..."
The player in question had short dark-brown hair that curled all over the place and hung over the top-half of his ears. His build was quite skinny with pale skin. He wore a pair of red-rimmed glasses over his hazel eyes, sporting a royal red long coat left unbuttoned with a white undershirt, black pants tucked into red combat boots with three straps and gold buckles. Lastly, a pair of white fingerless gloves.
"It's okay, he's just happy to see so many new faces, I imagine," Nagi didn't mind, ruffling Zeus's ears, causing his tail to wag. Then, Nagi blinked, looking around. "Wait... Argo?"
"Nagi?" Turning to Yuuki, she and her sister pointed up to one of the lamp-posts where the group could see Argo had expertly repositioned herself, sitting far out of the wolf's reach.
She put on an anxious smile, beads of sweat visible on her face as she attempted to appear calm, even as her whiskers twitched. "Don't mind me, just gettin' a good seat far away from that mutT,"
"Sorry about him, Argo," The player called up, still red in the face as he ran his hand down. "Okay... right-Zeus, back to the stall, and this time, stay," He was firm, and the dire wolf got up to turn and return to the side of the stall, a comfortable distance from Argo who remained where she was. "Guess my skill isn't high enough yet..."
"You're a beast tamer?" Siune hazard a guess.
It was a hidden skill like Chant or Barbarous, with only a handful of players known to have it and use it effectively. Two stood out the most, due to Argo's work, Nagi knew who they were. One was a young girl who had tamed a feathered dragon of all things. And the other a guy with an alpha dire wolf. AKA, the person now hopping over the counter of his stand, gesturing for them to come over.
Looking up, Nagi saw a brown and green blur fly from the post to his side, clutching him tightly. No one dared to bring up Argo's irrational fear of dogs, so Nagi smiled softly and placed an arm around her to help her move again, likely, she felt embarrassed by this. "I'll keep you safe," He whispered to her, feeling her nod slowly to his side. Knowing she hated being seen so weak and pathetic, but since this monster was tamed, she didn't need to fear it going after her, hopefully.
"Again, really sorry about that-SOMEONE should have kept an eye on him," The player's raised voice made his partner jump as they closed their menu.
"I-I said I was sorry, he just jumped out of the blue!" The female player apologized, her face reddened by all the eyes on her. "I'm so sorry for what Zeus did to you!"
The girl had long dark-brown hair, two longer strands falling over her shoulders and chocolate-brown eyes. She wore a white coat that fell to just above her ankles, a brown belt holding it against her waist with a silver breastplate. The sleeves had a green cuff near her shoulders and grey fingerless gloves. A light green combat skirt and black thigh-high socks tucked into leather high-boots with green soles and a gemstone fitted to the front.
Nagi gave her a polite wave, "It's really fine, just spooked us is all, you two and the wolf... you're that small party that's helped clear almost every dungeon in SAO, aren't you?"
"Is that seriously what people are calling us? I didn't even know..." The guy smirked warily, then gave them all a curt wave. "Anyway, a few of you know me-Mito, nice to see you again-but for everyone else, I'm Silent, also the tamer for Zeus, the fluffy behemoth,"
Zeus barked, the girls, bar Argo, all fawning over his aforementioned 'fluffy' coat. "His coat's super soft~" Yuuki cooed, flopping her face against the dire wolf.
"Up close, he's really not as big as I thought," Ran hummed, stroking the top of Zeus's head as he nuzzled her palm, making the elder sibling giggle.
"He's so cute..." Siune gushed while Nori rubbed his back. Mito seemed to be fighting the urge to follow Yuuki's actions, a blush on her face as she silently cooed over the large, passive canine.
"Aaand we lost them to the wolf, okay then," Artorias quickly turned his head back to the stall owners, looking at the girl with a wave of his hand, "And the mystery brunette is...?"
"O-oh, it's Sakura, sorry, nice to meet you!" She now seemed far more energetic than before. "Are you okay, Argo?"
"N-never better, just keep a tighter leash on him, thanks," The broker raised a shaky thumb tucking her hood tighter to her head.
"Gotcha," Making an 'OK' sign with his fingers, Silent nodded to Yuuki. "I've met Yuuki and her team before a few times, Mito too, heard they're all part of your grand guild now, neat,"
"They never mentioned you guys, sorry," Nagi apologized, though Sakura shook her head.
"That's fine, we've only been on the frontlines a few times but mostly keep to exploring the floors and dungeons," She elaborated.
"Moving on-Chen gave you one of these, right?" Silent pulled out a similar shard of ceramic to the one Nagi was recently given, only his appeared to be white with a dash of dark blue. "Shards of Railaan, far as we've dug up, this community event is added to everyone's menu when they arrive on the floor, and the number of shards is slowly rising too," Silent leaned against his stand. "People have started to pick up on tells for where to find more,"
"You know where they're dropping?" Talken inquired from the far right, his hand raised a little.
"Correct, so I wanted to run it by Argo since she's the best broker here," Silent responded with a nod.
"That a fact, how much for the loT?" Argo, now putting Zeus's presence aside for her work, leaning against the counter to listen in, making a quick gesture with her palm for Nagi to now turn and look elsewhere, his eyes peeled as Daora and Artorias listened in but kept their own senses sharp.
"Consider it my apology for Zeus stealing a few years off your lifespan-moving on," Tapping his fingers off the counter, Silent moved back to show them a display of the whole harbour, as well as points that were marked with stars and circles like a crime board. "Almost everyone's working with whatever information they have, so I've had Sakura run out to compile everything that's suitable while I ran this stall to not only sell lovely items from dungeons but to gather information since this is a hotspot for players. And after my near-death experience with that 50th floor boss, I'd much rather get as far away from danger as physically possible for a few days, thanks," Silent deadpanned.
"I found that almost everyone earned a Shard from playing various stall games and events all across Luminary," Sakura chimed in, gesturing to the map. "The stars are those games and the circles are hotspots for events, but there might be more on the exterior islands too,"
"Meaning they're might be events offering more Shards," Nagi answered as Argo pulled up her quest log, making it public.
Event Quest Added!
-Festival of the Radius: The Mural-
Mysterious shards of a once great mural of the past appear for three days and three nights during the Festival of the Radius. Aid Luminary in recovering all the missing pieces to restore a piece of their history...
*Shards of Railaan Gathered |958/2000|
Rewards |Redacted|
They were nearly halfway in the space of a day since arriving on the floor. Most who were part of the raid took the day off to rest and recover, so those that arrived had a head start on the event quest. This meant only Two Days remained to gather the remaining shards.
"We've got our work cut out for us, so all we do is played some games, that's it?" Artorias quirked a brow. "There's not like... some catch or a boss at the end of this juiced gathering quest, right?"
"Hell if I know!" Silent threw his hands up. "Who knows, maybe we'll mauled to death by an unbeatable boss... or confetti rains from the sky, who knows, this game's a blood taxation on my mental health-except for you, Zeus, you're the best!" That got a happy yip from the wolf.
Giving it some thought, Nagi didn't see anything wrong with playing this event, they were here to have fun anyways, so what's the harm? "You guys ready for a scavenger hunt?"
"So long as it's not boring, count me in!" Daora punched his open palm. "I wanna fight a big boss at the end of this!"
"Please don't encourage my impending death," Silent deadpanned, earning a slap to his arm from Sakura. "You know I don't mean it."
"Doesn't mean you should say it, I've told you, have more confidence in yourself," Sighing out her nose, she smiled at the group. "We've asked everyone that's gathering shards to bring them to us, since we're close to where the location of the mural is; Heathcliff and Lind approved of it, so if that's okay, having your guild's approval will help a lot,"
"Sure, do I need to sign anything?" Nagi asked as Sakura opened a shared menu between them to have him write his signature alongside Lind's, Heathcliff's, Klein's and even Kibaou's.
"Thanks for the intel, I forgive ya for the scare, this timE," Argo gave a slight warning to Silent who dramatically bowed.
"Your forgiveness humbles me, truly," Upright, the brunette sat back on a stool. "If we're not here, we'll be milling around the harbour, so just hand over any shards you find,"
"Gotcha, thank you for the advice you two," Nagi replied, turning to his friends. "Ready to explore the festival now?"
"Right behind you," Artorias clicked his fingers, "Count me in!" Yuuki waved her hand, "Let's hunt down every single shard before the other guilds!" Jun exclaimed chipperly, "That's impossible and you know it." Tecchi pointed out quietly, "Let's split up into smaller teams then!" Nori suggested.
"Good call, hm..." Rubbing his chin in thought, Nagi scanned their group for a few seconds. "Okay, me and Argo. Artorias and Yuuki. Daora and Mito. Ran and Siune. Jun and Nori and Tecchi and Talken. Course, feel free to do your own thing, what's important is to have fun, there are dozens of other players gathering shards too so we'll certainly have it done before the end of the festival."
"RIGHT!" The guild cheered, quickly matching with their companion to depart for the streets.
|Floor 51, Town of Luminary|
|Jan. 23rd, 18:32|
Nightfall had brought the whole city to life, colours and lights growing bolder and far more vibrant than ever before around Nagi as Argo travelled alongside him throughout the various game stalls set up, many in the style of classic games you'd find in the real world; fishing for weighted items, throwing items into holes or knocking targets down, the list never seemed to thin.
"There's so much to do... any suggestions, Argo?" Nagi thought it best to ask her as the blonde eyed the selection, eyes lighting up moments later. Following her glimmering gaze, Nagi came to focus on a large tent with an archery line. "Bows?"
"Not often ya see them in SAO, minus that Evet guY," Argo didn't let the name sour in her mouth, grabbing Nagi's hand to tug him along with a cheeky-slash-flirty smile. "Yer out with a beautiful girl, so naturally, I wanna see ya earn a prize for mE,"
Chuckling as they reached the archery line, Nagi felt his heart flutter. "Like you have to ask, but alright..." Looking at the shelves to either side of the tent, Nagi saw past whizzing arrows of other players competing for points, the prize line. The top shelf was reserved for the better gifts, like most stalls, they were little collectables, items, accessories. But these ones stood out the most compared to the rest.
Sat in a display case were shiny accessories like necklaces, rings, and earrings. Gemstones polished and cut from the mines themselves, but it was the ring with a distinct topaz that stood out the most to Nagi, it reminded him of Argo's golden eyes. "Would she like jewellery? Argo acts very professional and teasing all the time, but never super girly, maybe a ring wouldn't be so bad..." Just imagining her face made his expression brighten.
Making his silent choice, Nagi picked up the hand-crafted bow from the counter, seeing a prompt to pay appear, giving up a small fee, ten arrows appeared. Looking straight ahead, the objective was simple, closer to a bullseye, the higher his points, meaning if he wanted that ring he'll need to hit the inner-most ring or bullseye. Drawing his first arrow, Nagi had no real experience with a bow, but the system would fix that but not make his aim perfect.
Plucking an arrow, he saw it sail and strike the target's outermost edge. Drawing another, he scored the lowest amount again, frowning as he eyed his hands and how he held the bow. Giving Argo a glance, she remained expressionless, studying what Nagi would do next, her scent equally ambiguous.
Not wanting to let her down, Nagi dug into the back of his mind, spacing out his feet for a balanced posture. He held his bow out straight while drawing back an arrow slowly, adjusting it against his thumb. Evet was the only archer Nagi had seen up close, he could vividly recall how the orange player stood and moved, firing a bow with such little effort but the strength of a monster. Nagi couldn't compare in strength, but he did learn...
His third arrow sailed hard and fast, sinking into the target's innermost ring, prompting his counter to rise by nearly four times as many points as before. Drawing another arrow, Nagi fired and did the same again, though it bordered between two rings. Feeling a little more confident in his accuracy, he slowly got into a rhythm, each arrow landing within the innermost ring to a degree, though, he never did manage a bullseye but set his bow down with a decent score.
Looking down at his points, his smile grew seeing he reached his targeted amount, going over the margin by just one point of difference. "Yes!" The NPC walked over, and Nagi pointed to the one he was after, quickly twirling on his heel to hide the NPC from Argo. "Okay, a deal's a deal, close your eyes,"
"Nyehehe, someone's gotten all mysteriouS," Admitting defeat, Argo closed her eyes and swayed side-to-side patiently.
Once the ring was safely in his hands, Nagi felt the blood run to his cheeks, almost unable to find his voice. "H-hold out your right hand, it'll fit," She gave him a raised brow and mischievous hum between her lips, doing as he instructed. Nagi found it cute how her expression shifted and swapped between emotions as he fitted the ring onto the digit of the same name. "...you can look,"
Argo blinked, holding up her hand to find nothing within her palm, rather, the silver ring that wrapped around her ring finger, turning her palm to eye the brightly tinted topaz clutched by the silver. There was no telling how she'd react, or how to best expression her reaction upon seeing the ring. Her whole chest felt really warm and tight now, and the longer she stared, the hotter her whole body felt.
"...say, Hero, mind, uh, comin' over here a seC?" Argo's voice was quiet, processing the ring on her finger.
"Ah, guess not, well, it did have some attunement slots so should be useful for her gear," Nagi shrugged to himself and shadowed her. He wasn't upset about it, there was still plenty they could do, and he even got to feel what it's like to wield a bow.
Rounding the corner of the tent with a building beside it formed a narrow alleyway, giving Argo her chance to twirl around to face Nagi, who was completely unaware, making her lips curl upright as she leaned up to grab his shoulders. The reaction happened so fast, and like always, Nagi couldn't even come close to reacting in time to Argo's lips against his.
"...right, I get it now..." Nagi never will come close to predicting Argo's thoughts, that often made her far more amazing whenever she did surprise him.
Pushing back against her lips, Nagi let his hands hold her bare sides, feeling her muscles jump from the touch that made her lips eager to linger into their kiss. For nearly a minute they had their faces close, lips dancing together before needing to break away for a breath only an inch apart, their faces redder.
It was here with the warm glow of lanterns behind Nagi that he saw the rich golden-brown of her eyes really shine, flickering like flames. His right hand moved up to caress her cheek, causing her look of longing to soften, something no other person would ever see. She was stunning, everything about her couldn't have been more spectacular.
"...I love you, KaitO..." She whispered to him, something that she never really said in all this time as it wasn't needed, neither of them held doubts on how they felt toward each other, not for the longest time. But saying it out loud definitely felt different, and exciting. Maybe this is what they meant by those three words people integral for the precise moment. Was that now? Argo didn't have an answer, nor did she particularly care for 'the right moment'.
Nagi's heart swelled against his chest, his thumb rubbing against her whiskers, forming a silly, loving smile, his eyelids heavy. "I love you too, Tomo," Then, he felt his lips connect with hers for a little longer.
Argo felt her own heart racing hearing him say it back, her fingers curled against his haori while she showered him in affection, more than happy to stay like this for a minute longer. She was on break anyway, and she couldn't be happier.
To Be Continued...
Okay, it's basically Liyue Harbour from Genshin Impact-it's a lovely location, especially for Lantern Rite (Which I never played), it felt like the most appropriate location for a festival, and a Chinese-styled floor gives us an alternative to something akin to what we've seen on Floors 10 and 25. We've got quite the collection of funny, fluffy, and exciting moments for this arc. Especially seeing many characters we've haven't seen in a while, or none at all.
Welcome to the festival, I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; see ya in the next chapter, Misfits!
065 - Festival of the Radius
The Festival brings together many from across all of Aincrad, player and NPC alike...