CH 33

33

The area did not change much. Mobs seen here are still caterpillars and turtles, just their name changed from “stone” to “rock”. And they grew a little?

While keeping an eye on #1 and #2 on whom the turtles gathered, I looked at the surroundings.

The Starting Town and the East were plains and forests, but in this area it was the mountains that stood out. That must be where the mines are. So the entire area is brown-colored, hm.

While absorbing the enemies #1 and #2 beat, I move toward the town. As I should have expected, when the greatsword strikes an opponent with high defense, its durability decreases just a little. However, I only have one mace to use for blunt attacks so it can’t be helped.

...Wait, I can summon #2 as a golem, right? Punches are blunt attacks. The problem is the golem’s cost… it’s (10×10)×4=400. I have nowhere near enough. A mini golem has the same cost as a Skeleton, so let’s try this one.

The amount of capacity I got from the second area has increased, so I can change him into a golem after beating some enemies. By beating five enemies I get 15 capacity.

"I will resummon #2 now.”

"*KLOK*”

What I’m summoning is a Skeleton Mini Golem. The basic skill I give him is «Fist». #2 who appeared… was bones with just a mini golem shell, very see-through.

"#2, punch the turtle.”

Thanks to being skeleton-y, he nimbly moved closer and attacked with a right straight punch. There was a fairly loud sound. And there, I noticed a fatal defect.

"...#1, change with #2.”

"*KLAKKITY-KLAK*”

When #1 attacked, I returned #2 back. Skeleton golem is no good. What a trap. A golem’s punch is blunt attack, and skeletons are weak to blunt attacks. Which means that he’s in a stupid state where he deals damage to himself by punching the enemy.

Let’s resummon him as a Mini Golem Zombie. The body was filled with meat, so it was no different from the boss.

This is pretty difficult. A Skeleton can hold a weapon, but Rabbits whose basic attacks are tackles are not suited for the skeleton-type. What if I put arms on it with customization…? Won’t it be strong if I put arms on a wolf’s back and make it hold a weapon?

Well, I guess they are telling us to use this customization and do as we please. With that said, I have no information so I can’t judge for now, so I will need to try first.

"#2, take revenge.”

This time the sound was really weak, but the damage was plenty strong. It seems like his HP did not decrease, so it looks like my golems will be zombie-types. The problem is «Decomposing Body»… It will take a long time before I will be able to remove it. Both skill level-wise and… capacity-wise.

I progress while beating enemies and when the town came into my sights, I dismiss them.

“Welcome to the mine town, Vershtet!”

I said a greeting to the guard and entered the town.

As expected of a mine town, there was a part of the town from which a lot of smoke came out. It must be the crafters’ area. And many of the Residents that I pass by are Dwarves?

The size of the town is pretty big. It feels like there are many smiths, miners and adventurers here. Seems like there is a reason for that, maybe because the metal equipment is cheap, or maybe because it’s cheaper to gather materials and get a discount. Of course, I meant the Resident adventurers, but there are also plenty of players here.

“Oh? Yo, Tasha. So you came over here.”

“Ahh, Sugu. You came at the right time.”

“What’s up?”

“Where can I mine ore?”

“You can mine roughly everywhere in this area’s mountains, but that one mountain is no good. You should go mine there.”

“Are there mountains with no ore?”

“No, it’s a problem with the game setting. That mountain is used by the people of this town at the moment. And that mountain was mostly mined-up so it was unlocked, you can do as you like on your own risk, they say.”

“Oh, I see.”

“You can’t enter the mining shafts that are being used, so if you can enter somewhere, it means it’s free.”

“That’s nice and simple.”

“By the way, naturally enemies appear there. Mainly ants, ants, and more ants.”

“Three types of ants?”

“Ants with spears, punching ants and ants that spit acid. And you need...n’t to be careful with lighting.”

“I have night vision for visibility, so I’m fine.”

They finished mining most of it and ants started appearing so they left them be… sounds likely. If you are going to mine while beating ants, then it’s up to you. We’ll have less trouble thinning them out?

“The enemies themselves aren’t too strong, but there are many of them. However, you fight at most two, three of them at once in a shaft. And it feels like it continues forever.”

“So it’s a continuous combat type area...”

“The deeper you go, the more you can mine, but there are also more ants there. Right now, it’s possible to mine Iron, Nickel and Cobalt.”

Looks like Nickel and Cobalt aren’t used yet. Crafting with iron is the best everyone can do and they still can't do Steel. Do your best, Ertz-san.

Looks like Sugu will stay in the North for a while in order to get new equipment for the party.

“Oh? Hey, you two.”

“Oo, hey Cecil-san.”

“It has been a while.”

“Our party has been in the West until recently you see. I heard that we’ll be getting steel soon, so we’re on a business trip to update our equipment. Actually our PT is still on bronze!”

Ahh, so it’s nearly ready. In that case, should I prepare steel equipment for my skellies? I will have to consult the prices...

“We earned quite a bit over there so… And the number of people there increased, so we switched over.”

“I also earned a lot during the combat tournament...”

“There was a big line to your stall, wasn’t there...”

After talking for a while, lunchtime came so I logg out to have a meal. After finishing the meal I log back in.

I first confirm that I have the Pickaxe I bought from Ertz-san, and onwards to the mines. I use 3SP and acquire «Mining».

When I headed to the mountain Sugu told me about, I found a fair number of entrances. I have no information on these so there is no point wondering which one should I pick. And so I passed by a few before entering a random one.

Size-wise a mini golem would be getting in the way… Let’s go with mace and shield, and greatsword Skeletons.

It’s the second area, so in order to increase efficiency… not, in order not to let them die, I summon them at three times the cost. From what I learned so far, triple cost makes them about 1.5x stronger. ... Bone density sure is expensive, isn’t it?

Putting bone density aside, I proceed forward for a while. Most likely because they were carrying ore out, the road is pretty wide? Meta-wise it’s probably to make it easier to fight… I bet.

After moving for a while, the road started to branch out more and more. It has gotten pretty complicated. The minimap is on auto, so I won’t get lost. It’s a game so… I’d prefer not to move with paper and pen in my hand.

When I move even deeper, I find a place where the wall shines. Must be a high value point. I quickly take out a pickaxe and start mining.

In this game, to gather it means to “acquire the thing that’s in front of you”. Just like when I gathered the herbs and mushrooms, objects aren’t merely part of graphics. If you pick up a stone, you acquire a stone.

And it’s a game, so these things reappear with the passage of time. Each material is displayed separately for each player, so you don’t have to be bothered about other players. Although it does reduce the realism a little, it’s better than having the players fight over things. Well, in order to gather you need Skills, tools or both so it’s not like everyone can gather.

Also, what’s left to say is about gathering points… normally it’s “you can gather materials here!”, but in this game these shining points are places where you can either gather several times, or receive several materials from gathering. These high value points respawn randomly within the area. In other words, if you cut down a tree that is a high value point, another tree in that area will randomly become a new high value point.

The high value points are shared between players, but it’s hard to say they are something to fight over. There are multiple of them in the same area, and if someone gathers them, they will respawn in another random location, so it’s pretty pointless.

I let out loud sounds as I diligently gathered the point in the mining shaft. Let’s have #1 and #2 stand on guard.

What rolled on the ground was… Iron Ore and Copper Ore? Well, everything will go to Ertz-san so anything is fine. I’m still in a shallow place, so there is a lot of copper. Let’s proceed to the next one.

Oh, there’re enemies.

These ants are so game-like. They have slightly cartoonized hands holding spears. Which means that the ant that isn’t holding anything is the punching one. There are 2 Ant Lancers and 1 Ant Fighter, no acid one in sight. Let’s have #1 and #2… take care of the lancers.

"#1, take the two lancers.”

"*KLOK*”

Lances are thrusting weapons, so #1 and #2 should be fine. The single fighter deals blunt attacks so I will take him on. There is no sunlight here, so  caves are our hunting grounds.

Looks like it’s pretty impossible to do a surprise attack in the shaft… The fighter ran my way while maintaining a fighting pose. Honestly speaking, he looks much like an arachne. There are no human parts on these ants though. Lancers pointed their lances at us and charge right in. Aren’t these guys high on AGI?

I struck the incoming fighter with【Light Lance】and lured him onto me. There, #1 and #2 moved in front of the lancers.

I parried a straight right that came at me with the charge speed in it, then avoided a poor left punch before slashing at him and then releasing【Nox Shot】. Following that, I start channeling【Light Lance】. Receiving the Shot, the fighter entered a falter motion, so I parried the single strike that came at me and cast【Light Lance】.

Looks like all of ants’ joints were their weakness, so I aimed at them and attacked with magic. When I looked to the side, pierced between the ribs… #1 splendidly bashed the ant’s head. So there’s no damage from that… Not only bones are hard to aim at, but even when you hit them the damage is decreased? Well, they would be easily shattered if the enemy had a hammer.

I parried away a punch with【Break Parry】before releasing a【Nox Shot】. That turns the enemy into a corpse.

Shot-type spells are really nice. For pure spellcasters they are hard-to-use spells due to the low range, their range being about two meters. I guess they are highly valued spells for magic swordsmen however. I want to have【Lumen Shot】as soon as possible, so let’s focus on light for a while. The attack power will decrease, but that’s less important.

As for #1 and #2… equipment-wise it will be #2 who beats his enemy first. I attack #2’s lancer from the side, and release a【Penetrate】art at the very easy to aim weakness. The rapier was enveloped in red glow showing there was an attack art activated, and when I slashed at the weakness… something like a laser has come out from the rapier’s point which pierced the lancer’s body and scattered along with a flashy effect. Looks like it properly counted as a weakness.

Receiving a heavy blow to the side, the lancer stumbled forward. #2 used that opening and slashed with the greatsword, turning the enemy into a corpse.

I sent #2 to help #1 and in the meantime, I take the enemies in with【Dark Ritual】. From the side there was a greatsword swing which made the ant stumble, and in that moment the mace struck its head, beating it. They said they share the same mind, so I guess their cooperation is perfect?

Certainly, single enemies aren’t too strong. As for the ants, probably because they are fairly big I receive 3 Capacity for each. Isn’t this pretty sweet? From the Servants’ perspective the enemy is higher level, so let’s heal them up to recover the lost HP. Let’s leave some of the missing HP for automatic recovery to take care of. If it’s close, then I will use【Life Assignment】.

When I proceeded while mining from the walls sometimes, I started hearing a sound of combat coming from ahead. Looks like it’s someone else fighting. The further deep you go the more branches there are, so it looks to be possible to meet with people who entered from a different entrance. This is a dungeon in a way that it’s a maze, but it’s treated as a normal map.

Since I was proceeding in a straight line,as I moved forward I started hearing someone being noisy? And when I further closed on I saw people… there’s a lot of GOZARUS here. So it was Musasabi-san’s PT.

“Oh, if it isn’t Princess-degozaranka. It’s unusual for you to come here-degozaruna? ...Hm? Yellow marker, meaning, they are summons-degozaruka?”

“Good day, what a coincidence. I came here to gather materials for these two’s equipment. I think there will be information from Ske-san on the BBS, but they are «Necromantic Magic»’s summons.”

“Hooh, so there are necromancers after all!”

“It’s really tricky, but necromancers are usually so, so it’s hard to say...”

“Well, it’s unrelated to us-degozaruna~. Alright, we’ll proceed forward-degozaruyo.”

According to Musasabi-san, in cases you meet other parties here, you fight in turns until you reach a branching. Looks like the first batch are relatively peaceful folk?

“It just means that quarreling is a waste of time-degozaruyo. Also, everyone wants to have fun, right-degozaru? Most likely there will be a branching here-degozaruna.”

Furthermore, the top players… or rather, the people of the same level hardly change. This is due to everyone having the environment and work/school cycle being set. In other words, if you play quite a bit, you will keep seeing the same faces on your hunting grounds, so you end up interacting with them. Especially in this FD game, it’s pretty hard to quarrel? Is what they say.

“Especially that now the ones coming here are mostly the top players-degozaru. Although, there is possibility that eventually there will be raids coming here-degozaruka.”

We move forward while talking, and there, about five enemies appeared. There are a lot of enemies, so I leave them to them.

“Roger-degozaru.”

“Go go go.”

Musasabi-san’s party is a full PT of six members. They all wear ninja-like clothes so it’s easy to distinguish them. Is this what you call hobby friends?

“Iiiiyah!”

“IYAHH!”

...So this is what I heard. Every time they attack they scream. But everyone’s movements are really nice, as expected of top players?

“Guwahh!”

“IYYaahhh!”

One of them received an attack, so another went in to cover. ...Their movements are really good, mm?

“Sayonara!”

“NANMUSAN!”

It’s over, hm? They definitely aren’t ninjas, but NINJAS. I understand it well now.

“For now, I learned that you are having a lot of fun.”

“It is fun, the best.”

“Mhm, it’s fun-degozaruna!”

When we proceeded, this time it was four enemies. Two lancers, one fighter one shooter. I left the lancers to skellies and take the fighter and shooter on myself.

"#1, take care of lancers again.”

"*KLOK*”

I once again lured in a fighter with a lance, then shot an arrow at the shooter to get his targeting. The number of my rapier attacks will decrease, but it can’t be helped. The lancers have been restricted by Servants.

Just like I did earlier, I start fighting the fighter. In the meanwhile, the shooter throws something yellow at me, but I deflect it with【Royal Counter】. Looks like it’s treated as a ranged attack like that of a bow, and not magic.

Honestly, to me this rapier is a shield. If i’m not conscious of casting spells, they gets fired from the tip of the magic catalyst. In other words, if I’m conscious of it, I can shoot from elsewhere, so I can attack with magic while I parry the attacks. This is my fighting style. If there is a possibility to attack with rapier I attack, but that’s all. My main attacks are magic.

While attacking the fighter with【Nox Shot】and【Light Lance】, I sometimes attacked the shooter with【Light Arrow】. I can’t have servants take care of two higher level enemies at once - my Capacity will decrease. From my perspective they are of the same level, so I will take care of them.

After crushing the fighter with a Shot spell, I move onto the shooter next. While deflecting the acid that comes at me I slowly closed the distance. I mean, I can use Shot if I get close enough.

Looks like among the enemies, fighters had most HP, next being lancers, and shooters had the least. When I got closer I easily defeated him.

What’s left is the usual, I first beat #2’s enemy, then beat the last one with the two of us. When I beat them all, I use the ritual on all four.

“That parry is amazing as always-degozaru… but what is that cool thing you are doing-degozaru?”

“It’s【Dark Ritual】. With this I absorb the bodies and increase Capacity, Capacity is used for summoning.”

“I see… so this is «Necromantic Magic»-degozaruka. This is certainly tricky-degozaruna. And drops?”

“They disappear, of course.”

“Well, no wonder-degozarouna… It seems that ants’ carapace can be used for light armor-degozaruyo.”

“Mmmmm…. but I want capacity...”

At this point, I equipped #1 with the iron armor that I received from the defensive battle. I need to prepare equipment for #2, and #3 whom I will eventually get...

The next enemy was defeated by Musasabi-san’s party, and when we proceeded a little more there was a branching.

“I’ll be off then.”

“Take care~.”

I diligently mined while defeating ants, gathering ore. There were Copper Ore, Iron Ore, Nickel Ore and Cobalt Ore here. When nickel and cobalt started appearing, the amount of copper decreased and in most cases there was iron dropping. From time to time there was some nickel or cobalt drop.

Looks like it was necessary to go fairly deep in. The enemies in the early part were Lv23, but they turned Lv26 in the latter.

The middle area was a safe zone, so I eat dinner and dealt with real things before resuming the mining. I acquired a fair number of ore and capacity, as well as a small amount of ant materials, so while it’s a little early, I can sleep… not? I haven’t delivered the potions. Let’s go to sleep after delivering. The event ends today. I can’t use them, so I would be grateful if they adopted them.

I jumped through the portal to the Starting Town and… let’s go to the granny’s place. It’s a place that requires a flag enabling so it’s dubious as to whether she will take them. I can always ask. And so I head to the store.

“Hello. Do you take potion deliveries here?”

“You mean for the thing where new Outsiders come? If so, then go to the apothecary next to the union.”

"...Speaking of which, I did not investigate where they sell potions.”

“They aren’t necessary for you, after all. I bet they are trembling with fear that there won’t be enough, so go there.”

I left the store, and headed to the apothecary next to the union. On the right side of the Adventurers’ Union there was an apothecary, and on the left there was a weapons shop. I passed by them many times before, but I wasn’t interested at all. I did not have any memory of them.

“Good day.”“Welcome. Do you need something?”

“Oh no, I came to deliver some potions.”

“We are grateful! Please, come this way.”

The apothecary… was a store selling Mixing-type goods. It had potions of various types on display. The smell inside it was like that of a hospital. But because there were magic herbs here, there was also a strong smell of greenery. There is no mint-like smell, it was the smell of leaves being pounded, a very grassy one.

Well, it was an only natural smell considering the location, so let’s put that aside… Just like I was told to, I took out the potions out of the pouch and lined them up on the counter. 25 HP Potions, 366 Beginner’s HP Potions.

“Nnn, I have needless Potion Bottles, do you need them?”

“If they are of C quality, then by all means.”

Then let’s pass the storekeeper 297 of them. Although it was a goods delivery, they did pay for items, and it all became 17k in total. Honestly speaking, they were merely a by-product of me leveling «Alchemy», so I’m happy that they bought them for a little cheaper than the price they sell it for in the store. I can’t use them at all, so it’s pointless to carry them around. I have no space to spare in the inventory, so they are in the way if anything.

Well then, let’s leave the store and go to sleep.

Tomorrow there will be an update and the second batch will come. Let’s go meet Ertz-san right after the maintenance ends.