Translator: Eisen Editor: Weasalopes
As I head towards the east, the monsters are not going easy on me.
But my Summoned Monsters are not going easy on them, either.
Raptors were brought down by Rig, who would simply envelop them completely.
The Cranes are dropped on the ground by Helix, where Volff delivered the final blow.
I simply stood back and watched.
It"s easy.
I wonder if this is how a Summoner should be played?
So far, things have been slightly different.
I casually hunted three Raptors, but I obtained an Ancient Stone.
The Support Skill【Disa.s.sembly】hasn"t become any stronger, but still, I feel it"s starting to be effective.
By the time I reached the Forest Maze, my stats were almost back to normal.
Here I recalled Zangetsu and Helix and summoned Jericho and Bunraku.
I gave Bunraku the bow and quiver that Goki uses.
Wood Puppets are not really meant for battle.
Regardless, I wanted to make him battle so that he could level up.
Bows and arrows may not be the most effective way to deal with Skeletons and Branch Golems, but given the circ.u.mstances, it can"t be helped.
I also have Volff and Jericho.
The number of monsters I can summon has increased.
That doesn"t mean that I should let our battle potential fall behind.
We kicked the Skeletons around and were able to safely go through the cave and into the Forest Maze.
Since Jericho is here, our pace was rather slow.
I learned something new, too.
Rig the Slime is not as effective against Skeletons as I had thought.
If you destroy the two spirits that they hold in their bodies, they crumble to dust.
However, Rig"s dissolving ability does not work on the Skeletons" bones.
Of course, Rig is also unaffected by the Skeletons" attacks.
Rig can probably touch the Skeletons" spirits, but he doesn"t seem to be able to destroy them.
They would battle against each other endlessly.
Should I say that they are ineffective against each other, then?
Bunraku is not that bad with a bow.
He was landing hits without dealing much damage.
Compared to Goki, I can say that the arrow"s power is related to the stats of who"s firing it.
He wasn"t firing as fast, either.
However, his accuracy is impressive.
It must be due to his high DEX.
He should be good enough to use him on the rear guard.
There are slightly more players in the Forest Maze.
I tried to battle some Fungi and Branch Golems in a s.p.a.cious area.
Rig"s dissolving ability did not work against Fungi, and the same went for Branch Golems.
Just like with Skeletons, it doesn"t seem to work on monsters without any flesh.
However, his ability to completely negate physical attacks did come in handy.
He attached himself to Jericho, which proved to be a great means for defense.
I"m also back in the front lines of battle myself.
Here I decided to fight unarmed from the start, instead of using my rod.
I made it so I could go as wild as I wanted.
Occasionally, I would be seen by other parties, but I paid no mind to them.
It would be great if I reached Legias before dinnertime.
With that in mind, I continued to hunt my way through the Forest Maze.
I"ve gotten used to fighting here, so there"s little risk of being defeated.
I will continue to hunt here.
I was prioritizing Bunraku"s experience gains above all else.
And then I realized something else.
The Support Skill【Disa.s.sembly】.
I realized that it had torn several things apart.
Occasionally, it would sc.r.a.p items in two.
I also had two items from the Fungi that I had no recollection of having obtained in the first place.
It"s subtle, but it"s definitely working.
《[Disa.s.sembly] Level Up!》
It was also getting stronger.
But I made a slight miscalculation.
It was picking up too much wood.
It"s heavy.
Though there is still room left in the 《Item Box》.
What if I keep picking up heavier items in the future?
This is troublesome in so many ways.
《Summon Monster 『Bunraku』 Level Up!》
《Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》
Bunraku leveled up after finishing off a horde of Fungi.
His DEX has increased automatically upon leveling up.
I chose SPI as its second stat increase.
Bunraku Wood Puppet Lv1→Lv2（↑1）
DEX 25（↑1）
AGI 8
INT 18
STR 12
VIT 12
SPI 7（↑1）
Skills
Bow Cooking Magical Resistance [Slight] Self-Repair [Slight]
That is a huge amount of DEX.
It might be too reckless to try to make another stat as high as that.
When Bunraku leveled up, we left the Forest Maze.
I recalled Jericho and Rig, and summoned Helix and Obsidian.
I used Dowsing as there were a few Obsidian Arrows with broken arrowheads.
I also picked up some obsidian stones from an earlier battle in the forest.
My stats seem to be back to normal.
I slowly advanced towards the village.
I was a little worried about the distance, though.
Volff, Helix, and Obsidian more vigilant than usual.
Is there something out there?
It"s not as if they were feeling confident or anything.
I"m a little worried.
But if I leave the forest area and enter the village, I should be okay.
I decided to enter Legias with haste.
Upon entering the village, Volff and the rest"s alert levels returned to normal.
What was that?
A PK or something?
That"s certainly a possibility.
After looking for where I thought Rick"s stall would be, I found it immediately.
Yuka is also at the stall.
Since there was a Customer NPC, I waited until they were done before heading to the back of the stall.
It was only just after 4:30 PM.
It"s still too early for dinner.
「Welcome, Keith.」
「Thanks.」
Helga was left at the counter, and Rick came with me.
Len-Len is also here.
「Fiona and the others went to the west, did you meet them on your way here?」
「Yes. I met them at the Area Portal. Since I had died, I"m going back to the drawing board.」
「Oh, that"s too bad.」
「There"s also some equipment here I need to pick up.」
「Oh, now that you mention it, Margrid came here earlier. I think she has already logged out, though.」
Oh.
We must have missed each other.
I"ll try to come back here tomorrow morning.
Once again, I take out the items I had collected from the《Item Box》.
I intend to keep some for myself, though.
「Hey, this is good!」
「This skin here looks useful as well」
Rick seems to be interested in the Vivid Feathers that I got from the Fire-Eater Parakeets.
Len-Len noticed both the Brown Bear Pelts and the Polka Dot Fox Hides.
Hmm?
Speaking of which, Len-Len is a Weaver, right?
「Can you make cold-resistant clothing with these?」
「Just one of them is enough. Since it"s not hard leather, it doesn"t take too long to make them」
「Huh? Then, how do you make armor out of it?」
「It takes a lot of work. I"m not a Leatherworker like Saki.」
Is that so?
Though only slightly, some things appear to be known only to those that are part of the Production Team.
Even monster hide can be used as protective clothing, but there are places in your body where there"s simply nothing that can be done.
「Are you planning to go somewhere cold?」
「Maybe, maybe not.」
「Well, with these Fox Hides, I could make you a scarf. How about it?」
「Oh.」
I don"t know.
I would like to buy something from them, even if I"m running short on money.
Rick noticed this and made a smart move.
He offered to waive the production cost for my purchases.
I"m saved!
And I have an item they need, so I can offer that as part of my payment.
So, Enraged Crane Beak.
I will leave 3 of them behind.
I had thought he would mention something, but he went back to work instead.
According to Rick, the Vivid Feathers were fetching a high price at the port city.
Apparently, it"s being treated as a luxury item in maritime trading.
So?
Parakeet hunting seems to be a bit troublesome.
Len-Len took my measurements.
I think it"s going to be rather big for my size since I"ll be wearing it over my equipment.
Even so, she only took my Bear Fur as payment for it.
Well, that fur was incredibly huge.
We then discussed the details of the clothes I needed.
It"s a good thing that I"m wearing leather armor instead of something too flashy or bulged out.
「Now this is important. It might not be a problem, but I think it will turn out to be quite fluffy. It might be detrimental to your stats somehow.」
「Got it.」
Well, it can"t be helped.
The delivery is due in three days.
Len-Len will not be able to log in until later due to a real-world appointment.
Still, a three-day delivery is quite fast, isn"t it?
「The good thing about our Players Guild is that it"s a place where a lot of friends gather. I will arrange for a subcontractor to take care of it.」
「Oh, I see.」
Speaking of which, my leather armor was made in the same fashion.
It"s natural for Production Teams to try to deliver more efficiently by having many people working on the same project.
That"s not a problem as long as those products are well made.
After drastically sorting my Items, I was left with room to spare in the《Item Box》.
Many things were gone, like the wood and fungi-like things collected from the forest.
There is only one problem left.
The Ancient Stones.
Rick seemed puzzled by them
I wasn"t sure about selling them, either.
Since there"s two of them, and their Weight is 4, they have become quite difficult to carry around.
If possible, I would like to get rid of them.
「It seems to be a magically imbued item, just like a Magic Stone.」
Len-Len was looking at the Ancient Stone while using the Sense Magic spell.
I did that as well.
Incidentally, even in this condition, the results from【Appraise】didn"t change.
The two Ancient Stones were certainly filled with magic.
They seemed to be changing colors ever so slightly due to their magical powers.
What"s that?
Is something wrong?
「Do you have a chisel?」
I couldn"t help but feel that something was wrong.
I went to a street stall and purchased a chisel.
It seems to be a product that is always in stock, due to high demand from Stonemasons.
Okay.
This might come in handy.
I took out a hammer out of my Woodworker toolset.
And I tried striking the chisel over the Ancient Stone"s surface.
I wasn"t happy with the outcome.
It took no damage at all.
What?
「Keith, could it be that it is under some sort of magical influence?」
「Huh?」
Oh, I see.
It looks like the kind of thing that would emit a magical power.
A simple tool wouldn"t work.
Well then.
「Enchanted Weapon!」
I"ll fight magic with magic.
How about this?
As the hammer strikes down, a few pieces of stone were sent flying.
But to do this here is quite a pain.
「It might get a little noisy, so I"ll try to do this later.」
「I see.」
「It seems that there"s something inside.」
Hmm.
I had planned to return to Master"s house and run some experiments with Potions.
But it seems I"m free to do as I please until then.
I"m looking forward to this.
It"s still quite early, but I bought some dinner at Yuka"s stall and ate it the table.
I also got some seasonings at the stall.
Sea salt, rock salt, brown sugar, pepper, vinegar, olive oil, and so on.
I didn"t buy any cookware, though.
Maybe I could replace some of the old utensils used for Alchemy.
Well, let"s have Bunraku use them, and if there"s any problem, we"ll get some new ones.
On our way back to Master"s house from Legias, Volff and the others were becoming restless. Something"s definitely out there..
More than being just alert, they seemed as if they could see some kind of disturbance in the wind.
What could it be?
Should I be on the lookout too?
Even if a monster were to see me, it shouldn"t attack me as long as it"s Pa.s.sive.
I should be able to pick up some Obsidian Stones.
They might be plain, but it"s nice to have a harvest.
We arrived at Master"s house without a problem.
Some things were different, though.
The Magi Owl came flying down to my left shoulder.
Helix, who was already perched on my left shoulder, moved to my other side and surrendered his spot.
Obsidian had been circling around the forest searching for the enemy, and promptly returned to my right shoulder.
But his usual seat was already taken.
So Obsidian forced his way into my right shoulder.
Just like an actual perch.
That"s exactly what I looked like then.
It"s unusual to see Master"s Magi Owl behaving like this with me.
For some reason, he seemed as if he had come here to escort me.
Huh? Really?
Just as we went into Master"s house, the Summoned Monsters were seemingly more relaxed. I was feeling relieved as well.
Their tensions had been handed down to me.
No, is there something really out there?
First, I want to finish doing what I can.
As soon as I reached the underground workshop, I instantly began to work.
First of all, I replaced all of the Potions I had used.
Additionally, I made one more Recovery Pill.
I also repaired the broken Obsidian Arrows I had found earlier.
What"s more, I had Bunraku help me with these tasks.
To some extent, he seems to understand our designs and does follow them well.
He"s very capable.
I can also see his DEX is way higher than mine.
He will be accompanying me in my Production activities from now on.
Well then.
Before I start with the Potion experiments, it"s the Ancient Stone"s turn.
Let"s try to open it up.
「Enchanted Weapon!」
I imbued my chisel with magic and began to whittle my way through.
The noise echoed through the entire workshop, but I don"t mind.
At first, Volff and the others seemed annoyed but got used to it after a while.
I was whittling at it with great intent.
I forgot about the time.
Since I wasn"t getting it open, I never realized when the effects of Enchant Weapon had worn off.
Come on.
Come on!
It was visually boring, so I used Sense Magic.
The scenery became very bright and vividly colorful.
What"s this? It looks interesting.
I remembered that in order to take a big chunk out of something like this, first I would need to make some holes all around the gemstone as if they were dots to be connected by a line.
Having done so, it seems that no magical power remains in the peeled off stone.
Let"s continue.
Something has finally come out.
What kind of gemstone will this ore produce?
I continued to work carefully from there.
Some way or another, I was finally able to extract the original gemstone out of the Ancient Stone.
《You may learn the following Support Skill(s):【Stonemason.】》
I thought about getting that skill for a moment, but I will pa.s.s for now.
I cannot find any other use for it than the one I"m giving it right now.
Besides, ores are a pain.
Let"s try to【Appraise】it.
【Material】Morganite Grade C+ Rarity 2 Weight 0+
A pink-colored beryl. Also known as Pink Beryl.
A bead-sized, highly transparent gemstone that is used for activating magical spells.
Oh.
It"s a proper gem.
Was it okay to expect this much?
Let"s try to do the next one.
I continued to dig into the other Ancient Stone using spells.
I dug out the gemstones in a much shorter time than the first one.
【Material】Blue Spinel Grade C Rarity 3 Weight 0+
A translucent mineral that forms octahedral crystals.
It is not extremely scarce, but it is known to be useful for activating magical spells depending on how it was processed.
Huh?
It was a Blue Spinel.
Judging by their Rarity values, this one"s better.
It turned out to be a good harvest.
However.
The work went well and all, and it yielded great results, but cleaning up is going to be a real pain.
Bunraku and I cleaned up the place.
Well, Bunraku had already started cleaning while I was still working, but there were still some small gemstone fragments scattered around everywhere.
I couldn"t imagine doing this kind of work outside.
It might be a good idea to keep that in mind.
As expected, after we had cleaned the workshop, I didn"t feel like making a mess again by performing the experiments with the Potions.
I"d better call it a night here.
As I reached the second floor, I recalled my Summoned Monsters, crawled into bed, and logged out.
Protagonist Keith
Race Human Male Racial Lv10
Job Summoner Lv9
Bonus Points Remaining 8
Skill Sets
Staff Lv8 Punch Lv5 Kick Lv5 Joint Lock Lv5 Throw Lv4 Evade Lv5 Block Lv4 Summon Magic Lv10 s.p.a.cetime Magic Lv2
Light Magic Lv5 Wind Magic Lv5 Earth Magic Lv5 Water Magic Lv5
Fire Magic Lv4 Dark Magic Lv5 Ice Magic Lv3 Lightning Magic Lv3
Tree Magic Lv3 Dust Magic Lv2 Lava Magic Lv2 Steam Magic Lv2
Alchemy Lv5 Pharmacy Lv4 Gla.s.smaking Lv3 Woodworking Lv4
Synergy Lv7 Appraise Lv6 Identify Lv7 Discern Lv2 Cold Resistance Lv3
Grab Lv6 Horsemanship Lv6 Precise Manipulation Lv7 Jump Lv3
Heat Resistant Lv4 Climb Lv3 Dual Wield Lv4 Disa.s.sembly Lv2（↑1）
Physical Reinforcement Lv2 Mental Reinforcement Lv4 Speedcasting Lv4
Equipment Kaya Wood Rod x 1 Kaya Wood Tonfa x 2 Snow Leopard Push Knife x 3
Wild Horse Leather Armor + Snow Ape Armguard Wild Horse Boots +
Snow Ape Leather Helmet Rampage Belt + Rucksack Item Box x 2
Items:
Survival Knife, Woodworking Tools
t.i.tles:
Old Summoner"s Pupil
Guardian of the Forest
Man of the Middle Path
Spell Archive
Monster Summons:
Volff Wolf Lv7
Zangetsu Horse Lv5
Helix Hawk Lv5
Obsidian Owl Lv5
Jean Bat Lv5
Jericho Wood Golem Lv3
Goki Demon Lv4
Senki Beast Ape Lv4
Rig Slime Lv3
Bunraku Wood Puppet Lv1→Lv2（↑1）
DEX 25（↑1）
AGI 8
INT 18
STR 12
VIT 12
SPI 7（↑1）