I am Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes.

After all, his own sword spirit was the child with whom he had the deepest connection besides Enkidu, so repairing Esther was definitely the first priority.

Furthermore, Esther can significantly enhance Gil's abilities. While the Crimson Dragon Emperor's gauntlets and the White Dragon Emperor's wings of light can also do so, let's consider that.

The Crimson Dragon Emperor's gauntlets and the White Dragon Emperor's wings of light house dragons, and ferocious, sealed dragons at that.

These two giant dragons are nowhere near as cute as the sword spirit that can burrow into bed, aren't they?

"By the way, template, where is my next world?"

"The host will be traveling to either 'Star-Carved Dragon Knight' or another fantasy world," the template replied.

“Hey… Star-carved Dragon Knight, do you want me to go find a mount?” Jill asked.

"The host will find out in time."

……

When Jill returned to the 75th floor of the city, intending to find someone to upgrade her weapon, she unexpectedly encountered someone she didn't expect.

“Kita.” Jill waved to the person.

The turban-wearing, two-handed staff user looked in Jill's direction, his eyes filled with obvious surprise. "Jill?"

“Long time no see, how have you been?” Jill asked.

"It's alright. We can handle those monsters in the wild now, even if we can't rampage through the dungeon like you. But we've both gotten stronger," Keita said with a smile. "After all, you're now known as the strongest swordsman in SAO."

"...It's alright...and it's probably best to avoid the title of Sword Dancer," Gil said.

"Then... Your Excellency the God of War?" Qi Tai looked at Jill with a hint of teasing.

"No, no, I can't accept that title," Jill said with a helpless smile. "Oh, by the way, here, these things are for you."

Jill swiped through the items, adding a whole bunch of equipment to the trade window, and then clicked "trade."

The equipment that Jill collected was all pretty good. These fully upgraded pieces of equipment were still usable even for ordinary players who might finish the game. Jill casually picked up a whole bunch of them and tossed them to Keita.

Jill and Qi Tai met more than half a year ago.

Jill happened to be farming materials in the maze area that day when she saw several players trapped in the "Crystal Nullification" zone and rescued them on a whim.

Those people were all members of Qi Tai's guild.

Keita's guild is called the Moonlit Black Cat Gang. That experience was so close to death that several veteran members of the Moonlit Black Cat Gang have always held Gil in high esteem.

Although the Moonlit Black Cat Guild is not as strong as some of the guilds in the front-line strategy groups, with Jill's support, they are still a well-known guild among players.

It can be said that Jill deserves a large part of credit for the Moonlit Black Cats' achievements.

Keita had considered inviting Gil to join the Moonlit Black Cat Guild, but Gil made it clear that he would not join any guild. Although he was a little unwilling, Keita respected Gil's decision.

Because of this pragmatic approach, Jill's attitude towards Qi Tai has never been too hostile.

If I had to find a word to describe this feeling, it would be like dealing with HOMRA's henchmen in the world of black bullets.

“How could you not be able to take on the role? You know you’re the strongest player who’s never lost. The fact that you soloed the boss on the 74th floor yesterday has already spread throughout Aincrad.” Keita responded to Gil’s words.

"Well, that's about it. By the way, has anything interesting happened lately?" Jill asked.

“You’re probably the only one in all of Aincrad who doesn’t like reading the newspapers,” Keita whispered to Gil. “It’s said that the Grand Master of the BOK (Boold of Knights), Heathcliff, has challenged a player to a duel, and that player seems to be the Black Swordsman!”

Chapter Thirty-One: Watching the Show

"A duel?" Gil raised an eyebrow at Keita's words. "Has something happened?"

What if something happens between Heathcliff and Kirito...?

Hmm... Jill can't think of anything right now.

"Who knows?" Keita and Kirito knew each other, but they weren't very close. "It's just a little unbelievable; Kirito doesn't seem like the type to go looking for trouble..."

“…emmm…I can’t comment on this,” Jill shrugged and said.

In a sense, Kirito might actually be a collection of troubles.

For example, in the original work, someone simply didn't mind causing trouble and gave himself the nickname "Beater," which attracted a lot of hatred from players towards closed beta testers.

However, Jill was still very curious about their duel.

In a sense, the contest between these two players, each with unique skills, is sure to be very exciting.

"Kita, when is their duel?"

"In three days, it seems to be around the seventy-fifth floor."

“Alright, let’s go take a look then.” Jill made up her mind.

"How strange, you actually have a time when you want to watch the excitement?" Keita looked at Gil as if he had seen something extraordinary. "Shouldn't you usually be more interested in conquering more dungeon areas than watching the excitement?"

"Really?" Jill raised an eyebrow. "Anyway, once we find those boss rooms, taking down the bosses is just a matter of time, isn't it?"

"Ah, that's how you see it anyway. Back then, those bosses were defeated by a large group of people, but you can just take them down by yourself..." Keita scratched his head, showing a helpless expression.

Jill glanced at the time on the menu bar. "Well then, I'll head back now. See you then."

"Okay, see you then," Keita waved to Gil and said.

……

Back home, Jill simply lay down on the bed and then opened the template shop.

"Host, what are you looking for?"

"Nothing..." Jill replied absentmindedly, then rummaged through the things she was looking for.

"Host, I have a search list here."

“I need a special biological solvent, do you have any?” Jill asked.

"...Sizzle..." Soon, the template retrieved the relevant solution information and placed it in front of Jill.

Jill paused for a moment, because there was more than one type of solution data in front of him.

"Template, I remember there should only be one type of drug that inhibits gastrulation factor?"

“Host, that is a solution of the type [used for biological specialization], and it can only suppress foreign biological factors within the organism.”

Heterobiotic factors... like Gastrul factors...?

Why wasn't this mentioned in the information?

"The host didn't ask for any more detailed information."

“I…” Jill was speechless.

"Tsk, never mind, give me these two solvents." Jill chose the solvent from the previous [Bio-specific Use] and the two statistics [Human Xeno-energy Specialization].

"Thank you for your patronage, 2k World Coins deducted."

There was no item in front of Jill.

"...This is the game space, I almost forgot."

"If the host wishes, the template can take over control of the entire SAO..."

"Alright, shut up." Jill looked at the menu in front of her. "As for this game, I'm going to beat it!"

“If I can’t even overcome this relatively simple problem, how am I supposed to face stronger enemies?” Jill looked at the template’s crystal screen. “I want to get back as soon as possible… so I’ll speed up my progress.”

……

three days later.

The 75th floor is the main street area, Corinna.

Currently, many swordsmen and merchants have settled here, and many other people who don't participate in the strategy but just want to see what the streets look like have also flocked in, making the whole town full of vitality.

In addition, today's rather unusual special event has caused the transfer gate to continuously discharge a large number of visitors since the morning.

The streets are constructed from stacks of white limestone cut into square shapes.

Alongside the temple-style buildings and wide waterways, a massive arena stands in front of the transfer gate, symbolizing the town.

The duel between Kirito and Heathcliff will be held here.

"Fire-breathing popcorn, ten cokes a cup! Ten cokes!"

"Iced dark beer!"

At the entrance to the arena, there were many shops run by merchant players, each of them shouting their wares at the top of their lungs.

"It's really lively here... Boss, a serving of popcorn, please."

"Okay, little brother, here you go." Jill bought a serving of popcorn and still waited in line slowly.

“Gil, you actually dare to eat this stuff…” Keita’s lips twitched.

“It’s nothing, I just remember something even worse, something that really ravaged my taste buds, and this one doesn’t taste bad,” Jill replied.

Soon, Jill and her friends bought tickets and entered the audience seats.

“This is going to be interesting,” Jill said.

After all, both sides in the duel are well-known figures in the strategy group.

Heathcliff possesses the unique skill "Holy Sword," a defensive ability that even the 50th floor boss cannot reduce his health bar below 50%.

Kirito is a lone player who frequently steals the boss's LA from the strategy group, and also possesses the unique skill "Dual Wielding".

While it's unclear how many people know that Kirito possesses "dual swordsmanship," it's important to remember that SAO is an RPG game. Kirito, who wields two swords simultaneously, can benefit from the bonuses of both, making it a formidable offensive weapon.

Although Jill's unique skill "Draw Sword Technique" has the characteristic of "the highest single-hit damage", the long attack interval can be considered the weakness of this unique skill.

Jill rarely uses it in boss battles. The main reason for the long interval between sword strikes is that the skill's pre-cast and post-cast animations are very long. Jill, who is usually a solo player, does not have teammates to help her "switch" and alternate to attract aggro. In the time it takes for the pre-cast and post-cast animations to pass, the boss can slap away half of Jill's health and apply a debuff to her.

Therefore, Jill will not use this skill when there is no one in her party.

Rather than using such high-risk, low-reward skills, it's easier to go all out and use sword dance techniques with decent returns.

Unlike sword dance techniques, the sword-drawing technique does not have the ability to ignore defense.

Moreover, there are many different types of sword dance skills, so Gilles prefers sword dance skills to draw sword techniques.

Chapter Thirty-Two: Seeing Through the Identity