Frontiers ~Chronicles of Bucket-san’s Detailed Pioneering~ - Chapter 118 – Prioritize protecting the crafters! Don’t let any of them fall!

“Solidify the protection around the facilities and the non-combatants!” Mika exclaimed.

“Ooh!” The other fighters exclaimed in unison.

A few minutes had passed since we were swallowed by the giant crystal’s shadow.

The battle has already started and we couldn’t run from it.

The non-combatants who were on top of the gate were too panicked to do anything, but Mika and the other combat-focused Pioneers quickly grasped the situation and started giving instructions.

Apparently, after being swallowed by the shadow, we were all transported to a special field area that we can’t get out of.

Both us and the giant crystal are within it.

Though strangely enough, there are also facilities and tools that can be used for crafting here.

Soon after Mika and the rest solidified the defense around the facilities and the non-combatants, event mobs started appearing from within the giant crystal.

Only small fries were appearing though. No strong mobs, never mind raid bosses.

Perhaps this is prelude for what will come next?

The non-combatant player Pioneers, me included, finally started calming down, so we started trying to analyze the situation.

After all, we’re still player Pioneers. We can’t be panicking here.

We now figured out the peculiarities of this field area, which are quite a few.

First of all, we cannot contact anyone outside this area. Neither by messaging nor calling. Even trying to send an e-mail with our account that is linked to the game doesn’t work.

Accessing the forums is also completely impossible.

The only feature we can access that connects us to the outside seems to be logging out, since the game wouldn’t block that one.

So, in other words, this battle needs to be cleared without any help from outside… Isn’t this quite interesting?

“The small fries are dropping materials and recipes that I never saw before!

“And the recipes seem to be tradable!” One of the combatants said.

“Same here! Recipes for weapons and armor!” Another one said.

“The necessary materials are also dropped by the small fries!” A third one exclaimed.

“If we have facilities, tools, recipes and materials here, then we can make those items here and now!

“Can you do it, crafters!?” Mika asked us all.

As the combat-focused player Pioneers started killing the mobs who were spawning from the crystal, they started saying those things.

It is quite surprising to see not only materials, but also recipes being dropped… Is this why we were brought here too?

But what would happen if visitors didn’t gather at the gate then? There was no guarantee that crafters would come to look at the final battle.

If the items that can be made with those recipes are essential in the fight… Wouldn’t this be quite troublesome?

“We don’t know their effects from the recipe, so let’s try making each one once.

“If you find something that seems useful, try making more of them!

“Crafters should go to the facilities! Check the recipes and the difficulty level of them, and make something you’re confident in doing!

“The number of materials available is finite, so don’t go beyond your limits!” Mika told us all.

“Do your best, Bucket.” Hime told me.

“Ah, yeah, good luck too, Hime!” I replied.

Mika is being the one giving most of the instructions.

Then, Hime quickly collected the gathered materials and brought them all to us.

It seems that I’m not the only crafter here, so there were a decent amount of people near the facilities right now, we were all checking the recipes and seeing what we can do.

“I can do this one.” One crafter said.

“I can’t make that, so I’ll be processing some intermediate-tier materials.” Another one said.

“I don’t know how much time we have to do the crafting, so I’ll be working on materials too.” A third one said.

“Then I guess I’ll be in charge of making the Sacred Silver items.” I told them.

“Amazing… As expected of Bucket. It’s impossible for me to handle that.” A crafter said.

“Is this about steel level?” Another one commented.

“Should be close to steel at least.” I replied.

“It would be hard if the same thing is happening on the other gates…” A crafter commented.

“Well, there are quite a few recipes, so they should be able to manage somehow.” I said.

“Well, now, more than at any other time. The production team should work hard to not lose to the battle team!” One of the crafters exclaimed.

“Ooh!” We exclaimed in unison.

All crafters gathered around the facilities are burning with fighting spirit.

The Sacred Silver items that I decided to make require a similar amount of intermediate-tier materials as steel.

I can make steel items with two Options in them, so I have no problems on the skill level aspect.

The problem though, is the tier of these facilities and tools, I mean… They’re definitely not advanced-tier.

Though they’re also facilities and tools that I never saw before.

Well, let’s try it for the time being. I don’t think we have much time to craft, since this is a special field area that forcefully dragged visitors inside it. I doubt this was planned to last for long.

******

“The complete set of Hard Silver is done!” One crafter said.

“The Sharp Silver weapons are also finished!” Another one said.

“The Exploding Silver is done too! Take it!” A third one exclaimed.

As a result of testing out each recipe and verifying their performance, we found out that the facilities and consumables made here are highly effective, but only within this special area.

Once we found that out, we started mass-producing them.

However, those items cannot be repaired and they also have a low durability value, so they’ll break fairly quickly. Therefore, we need to make plenty of spares.

As we finished making equipment and sent it to the battle team though, the speed at which the mobs were annihilated has increased, leading to a faster flow of materials for us.

We’re also making some consumable items, so our production team is very busy right now.

Of course, some of the visitors aren’t able to help out in neither battle nor crafting, so they’re doing things like transporting completed equipment to the battle team, then bringing back the materials to us.

So, in the end, everyone who was detained ended up having something to do.

On another note, the Sacred Silver items that I’m making are very strong.

They’re harder to make than the other gear available, so they end up being highly effectively and have a high durability too, so they don’t break as easily as the rest.

We’re distributing them while giving priority to the top combat-focused player Pioneers, and their effectiveness is visibly increasing as they get the better items.

Mika seems completely unmatched while wielding the first Sacred Silver Short Sword for one.

However, it takes time to make them due to the large amount of intermediate-tier materials required.

After we saw how high their effectiveness is though, some people started helping me out to craft them faster, so I now have three assistants by my side.

That said, they are still struggling to make the items, even if their skill levels are high and their technique is good.

At such times, I can clearly see how much I stand out.

I mean, they’re still top-tier crafters alright, but my login time is just too high to let them compete. It can’t be helped.

******

“There is movement on the giant crystal! Be careful, everyone!

“Prioritize protecting the crafters! Don’t let any of them fall!” Mika exclaimed.

“Ooh!” The fighters exclaimed in unison.

The giant crystal was finally moving now.

It’s been almost an hour since we were stuck in this field area, and only small fries have appeared so far, but now strong event mobs started coming out.

However, thanks to everyone’s hard work, a good number of special equipment and consumables have already been delivered to the battle team.

We were also able to make a reasonable number of Sacred Silver equipment, and the people with those are making quite a difference.

Specifically, we delivered them to Mika’s party and to the members of Gospel, as they’re all well-known top combat-focused player Pioneers.

The order at which we were supposed to distribute the items confused people a bit, but as those fighters were fairly famous, it didn’t take long until the distributors figured out who they were, so they were able to deliver the items fairly quickly.

Some people were dissatisfied by our choices, but most people agreed that this was for the best, so we moved on with it anyways.

And well, we couldn’t really spend much time debating as mobs didn’t stop spawning. We were too busy to have lengthy discussions.

Especially now that strong mobs are appearing, so we’re even busier than before.

They’re not too hard to be defeated because the special equipment and consumables are really useful, but the problem is their number.

Like, there are so many of them, that even though we are surrounded by people protecting us, we can still see a large number of strong event mobs approaching us. It’s quite scary.

It’s the first time I ever crafted in this kind of environment, and the same can be said for all the other producers.

Because of the emotional impact caused by the rush of strong mobs, we started making quite a few mistakes in our crafting. The kind of thing we’d never do in normal situations.

“Calm down, everyone! They are not coming here while the battle team protects us!

“Craft calmly! It’s is clear that what we are producing will make a difference!

“We can do this!” Suddenly, one of my assistants started shouting really loudly. Their voice easily went above the flashy sounds generated by the battle.

They were right by my side, so I was really surprised by how loud their voice was… I’d like them to warn me in advance if they’re going to scream. I almost made a mistake due to that.

Still, they helped everyone stop paying attention to the swarm of strong mobs and went back to concentrating on what we needed to do.

This person is amazing… I’d never be able to do this kind of thing.

“It was a bit troubling that you yelled all of a sudden like that, but… Let’s do our best!” I told my assistants.

“Yes ma’am!” The three of them exclaimed together.

“The activities on the frontlines change depending on our efforts, so we have to do our best!” One of the assistants said.

“Yeah! I never thought I’d enjoy being a crafter as much as I am enjoying it today!” Another one exclaimed.

“Yeah, our efforts are having immediate results.

“The harder we try, the easier the battle gets.

“It’s quite rewarding!” I told them.

“Well, we can only do it this well because of you, Bucket!” One assistant said.

“We’ll be counting on you, Bucket!” Another one said.

“Yeah, the people on the other gates probably can’t make Sacred Silver, so we’re really lucky here.

“Not to mention the wonderful amount of experience it gives!” The third assistant comment.

“I already got three levels!” One of them said.

“I got three levels too!” Another one said.

The assistants seem to be quite happy, and it’s definitely true that these items give quite a bit of experience to compensate for their difficulty, but… I didn’t gain a single level yet!

Nonetheless, it is true that what we can directly see the effect of each item we make.

We can also hear the people requesting for specific items right away.

Crafting work never felt as rewarding as this.

Like, sure, I did hear those voices indirectly by seeing what people wanted through the forums or by what the clerks told me, but still… It just feels nice to be requested and needed like this.