Frontiers ~Chronicles of Bucket-san’s Detailed Pioneering~ - Chapter 101 – Just this once! Just this once!

Even if some conflicts were happening at the event at first, it was only natural that a consensus on the method of handling the raid boss would be reached once the price of the rare items stabilized.

And well, the price of the Large Shadow Crystal and of the Shadow Granite have both dropped considerably after the supply increased, so most people have figured out that it was better to just get the Shadow Tears.

I thought it was only a matter of time for this to happen, but this was earlier than expected.

The reason is probably because there were some people hoarding those rare materials, intending to sell them when the price peaked… But then, the new raid boss made them realize that the price was about to go down, so they suddenly decided to sell out all at once, which led to a great increase in the supply and an appropriate fall on their price.

… Or that’s my theory at least.

In any case, with the drop in the price of those materials, the price of the items that can be made with them will naturally decrease too.

Or well, the price of the Shadow Destroyer Throwing Stone has dropped, as it is an item that can be easily made by plenty of crafters, but the same doesn’t hold true for the Shadow Barrier Destroyer Magical Formation.

First of all, the latter has a better performance due to affecting a large area instead of a single target, but then there are also the supply issues with this Magical Formation, since I’m basically the only that can make it.

So, the price of the Shadow Barrier Destroyer Magical Formation is actually going up instead of down… Isn’t it great? I feel really happy to be making Magical Formations at a time like this.

Though well, to me the main reason to craft them is still the fact that they are really lovely and enjoyable to work with. The high profits are more of a byproduct than anything.

Nonetheless, even if the Shadow Barrier Destroyer Magical Formation isn’t as profitable as steel gear, I’m still making plenty of them. And they always sell out by the time the line in front of my store disappears.

On an unrelated note, Artisan’s Crafting and Improved Alchemy have both reached level 100 after my daily carvings as well as the production of Magic Paper and Enchanted Magic Ink.

As always though, I’m struggling with Skill Points. Right now I have 19.

It was pretty fun to craft the Magical Formations, so I forgot about it a bit, but it’s finally time to evolve Language! Let’s do it without hesitation!

I do want to evolve many other skills, but this is my current highest priority in order to challenge the second floor of the library and get new recipes.

15 Skill Points are required for this evolution, so I’m out of Skill Points again, but that can’t be helped… Just like always!

Nonetheless, I should be able to finally read the books on the second floor of the library, so… Let’s go there and see if this holds true! I can’t be sure if the evolution will be enough to let me read them if I don’t try reading, after all!

******

And there were no problems reading the books on the second floor of the library.

I also noticed that the number of people who seemed to be player Pioneers on the library has increased. This is a result of disseminating the information about it, so there should be no problems on that.

There still aren’t many people here though, since the number of producers isn’t that big in the first place. Combat-focused Pioneers don’t need recipes, after all, so only crafters come to the library.

And as expected, even with more Pioneers on the library, the second floor is still basically empty.

I mean, you need a high Guild rank to reach this floor in the first place, not to mention that many people, just like me, should be struggling with evolving Language due to the shortage of Skill Points.

In any case, I used Improved Discover and Improved Concentration to try finding good books, but it was hard to choose the right ones because I kept getting more and more recipes! I already got five new recipes and I’m still on my second book!

I’m glad to find this many, as there seems to be almost no more recipes available on the first floor.

Unfortunately though, most recipes I got were composite creations using either iron, bronze or even copper, but I want composite steel instead.

Though it’s not like composite creations are very profitable. The end user ends up paying less due to being a single piece that can serve as an entire set.

Moreover, after taking Options into account, single pieces of gear end up being much better than a composite piece, so there really isn’t much merit behind the latter.

Well, the composite ones are still useful until one can get a large amount of items with Options, but it’s not like I make many composite pieces in the first place… I mean, single pieces of equipment are more profitable, after all.

******

With the second floor of the library finally having readable books, I ended up getting a bit too caught up on it.

I had entered the library shortly after dinner, but we were now already at the library’s closing hours.

And well, one can’t eat nor drink inside the library, so my hunger and drought meters are dangerously close to giving me the debuff right now. I’m sure a warning must have appeared at some point, but I was too immersed into the book, so I didn’t notice it at all.

I wonder how long has this warning been here?

In any case, let’s stop by Kuuruu’s restaurant and eat plenty before returning to the workshop.

And of course, I’ll borrow plenty of books this time too.

Though with the evolution of Language, the number of books I can borrow has increased from 10 to 20, and I don’t think I can read this many books before the deadline to return them.

I wonder how many books will I be able to borrow in the long run though… I mean, if it works in the same way as it did with Language, I’ll be allowed to borrow one extra book for every ten levels, and another ten books from Evolution, so… 30 books at level 100 of Improved Language, and then 40 after evolving it again?

Just who would be able to read this many books on the allocated time period?

On another note, the librarian gave me a warning when I left. Saying it’s dangerous to keep on reading books without eating anything.

I totally agree with them, but it’s okay because this won’t happen again next time. It was just this once! Just this once!

******

I stopped by Kuuruu’s restaurant and ate until I got rid of the hunger and drought. As usual, the food was delicious.

Kuuruu also seems to have increased the menu, so he is surely working hard.

That said, it’s not like we meet up often to talk. I meet up with the girls regularly in our girls-only-gatherings, but the men don’t seem to do anything similar of their own, so they seem to have a bigger distance than us.

Well, everyone is going to Kuuruu’s restaurant frequently, so I sometimes do see the other clan members. Depending on our luck, we may even eat together, but… Well, the restaurant is really crowded every day, so it’s hard to find a table that can seat everyone, so we don’t eat together that often.

In any case, once I returned to the workshop, it was now time to log-out and go sleep.

I was pretty happy because I read plenty of books and got lots of recipes.

I wanted recipes for better tools and for the next level of equipment though, but… Well, it’s definitely an improvement when compared to the times I went to the library and got no recipes at all, so the benefits of evolving Language have definitely been worthwhile!

I really wished I could have evolved it earlier, but I had to prioritize the right things, so it couldn’t be helped.

Well then, good night.

******

Good morning.

It seems like the outside is getting cooler, so I must be careful to not get a cold, as even minor illnesses like colds can be quite dangerous to me.

Though well, the air conditioning is always on in my room, so this isn’t something I need to worry about.

And of course, the same holds true in Frontiers. A controlled climate with no such thing as illnesses.

As for Mika, she trains regularly and is a pretty healthy girl, so she doesn’t have to worry about colds at all.

But what about Hime? I mean, she has a bit of a frail image, but I never heard about her being weak, so I guess she should be fine if she takes care of herself.

In any case, yesterday I was too obsessed with reading and making Magical Formations, so the number of equipment on this batch of store restocking is somewhat low.

Then, let’s do our best today in making steel gear!

******

While restocking the store, I decided to try out the only steel recipe I got from my reading yesterday. It was a composite piece of equipment.

It is a bit of a shame that I only got a single steel recipe after all that reading, but… Well, the final product was this.

——

Steel Full Plate Armor

Head, Arms, Body, Legs/Heavy Equipment/3*/DEF +303; HP +80; HP Recovery +36/Small Vitality Enhancement/Durability 230

Series/Steel Full-body set 1/1 HP Recovery +36

——

Seems like there is a series bonus for using the full-set… Nonetheless, it was still subpar when compared to using individual pieces with Options in them.

Well, buying this is a decent compromise for those who don’t have items with Options in them yet though.

But it’s not like this is cheap either, so this isn’t available to anyone.

In any case, I confirmed what I already knew with this. Single items are better than composite pieces. This consumes way too many intermediate-tier materials, and the result is subpar.

I guess I’ll just put it up on the store. Nobody with access to priority sales will want this.