Time passed, and it was now shortly after Christmas. In other words, the day that Maple was allowed to open the Present Box.
Maple and Sally appeared at the guild house at the same time by coincidence.
"Ah, Sally, it's been a while...wait, not really."
"Yeah, winter vacation has only just started. Do you want to go somewhere after this?"
"Hmm... I don't think so. Today I'm just going to open the present. Yeah, that's why I came."
Maple said as she took the red box out of her inventory.
"So you got one too. So did I."
Sally said as she took out a yellow box. It had different wrapping paper compared to Maple's, but it was also a Present Box that had dropped.
Sally held the box with both hands and looked at it seriously.
"Ah...that was so hard. I don't even know how many I killed..."
Sally said as she caressed the box affectionately. Maple couldn't tell her that she had got hers on her first try.
And so she decided to change the subject before Sally could ask.
"Yeah, so let's open these up! I wonder what will be inside?"
They untied the ribbons and picked up the lids at the same time. Both boxes contained a scroll.
It was an item that gave you a skill.
"A skill, huh... I wonder what kind?"
Both of them checked the information on the skills from the scrolls.
'Icicle'
Consumes 3 MP to create an indestructible icicle. Can create up to 5.
Lasts for 1 minute.
'Frozen Earth'
Freezes players and monsters that are within 5-meters of you for 3 seconds.
3 minute cool down.
The first was from Sally's scroll.
The later was from Maple's.
"Sally, this is my skill."
"This is mine. I guess there are different type... I haven't used 'Ocean' recently anyway, so maybe I'll use this instead? Mm, I should manage my MP too..."
Sally mumbled as she thought about what she would do.
It was a skill that would at least offer increased defense abilities if used well.
"So that means you can just freeze any monsters that look strong! Like this!"
"Well, yes. I think that's what you do."
"Okay! Okay! Well, I guess that's it for this year."
"Hm? Really?"
Sally asked just as Maple was about to log out.
"I need to slowly get through my homework, and January will be busy...so I might not play for a little while. Sally, you should do your homework too, okay?"
"I already finished it, so I'm going to play."
Maple was a little exasperated at the discrepancy between the times she was motivated and the times she wasn't, as she logged out.
Now that she was alone, Sally continued to make plans for the future.
"There should be a new layer soon, so maybe I should just relax here... That guy in the last gate still doesn't have any known weaknesses, so I can't beat him... Maybe I could explore the machine town again?"
Sally wanted to catch up with Maple while she was absent, but it was unusual for her to go out and explore without a clear vision.
"But it might be good to do this once in a while. Just like Maple."
With high hopes for the 5th layer, Sally headed back to the 3rd.
As for the results, she gained no skills and encountered no events.
The only thing Sally accomplished was finding out how to use 'Icicle.'
However, Sally had become obsessed with how useful 'Icicle' was.
Before this, she had used a magical disposable wall to block dangerous attacks.
So something that was guaranteed to last for 1 minute was almost too good to be true.
Sally did wish that they weren't transparent, so she would be able to hide behind them, but she was still satisfied.
Now, Maple and Sally's winter vacation had ended, and they were more than halfway into January.
And the 5th layer that Sally had been eagerly waiting for was about to be implemented.
On the day it was to launch, Sally came to the guild home first, but only waited for a short while before other like-minded members arrived.
"Ohh, we're all here now!"
Sally had not imagined that everyone would gather together, and she raised her voice in a mixture of surprise and happiness.
"Hm? No, Maple isn't here?"
"Ah...Maple is..."
Chrome had asked, and Sally explained.
"She got influenza...again. She gets it every year."
"Oh, I see. What should we do? Should we all come back on a different day?"
Everyone gave their opinion after Chrome's suggestion, and they all agreed that Maple would be able to get through with just a few members helping her later on, so they should just move forward together now.
They were all in agreement.
If anything, Maple would probably be able to beat the boss by herself.
And so Maple Tree minus Maple set off for the dungeon that led to the 5th layer.