Frontiers ~Chronicles of Bucket-san’s Detailed Pioneering~ - Chapter 124 – Ahaha…

Differently from the mad-scientist outer appearance, the inside of the Research Facility was actually pretty normal.

The facilities and tools there were the same ones that I’m used to as well.

That said, as expected of a section that is off-limits to the general public, all tools and facilities here are of advanced-tier.

And the recipes given to me were more difficult than the ones that can be purchased in Liber through normal means.

As usual, the difficult level can be determined by looking at the amount of intermediate-tier materials required in the recipe and… This requires a bit more than silver, but less than steel?

In other words, that’s an easy victory to me.

We didn’t receive many recipes, so let’s do this quickly.

“Then, Ms. Bucket, let’s do this.” Raksha said.

“You can count on me.” I replied.

Since Raksha gave me the permission, I moved towards the place where the advanced-tier tools and facilities are and started working.

Of course, I can use them without any problem, and the materials are also here, so I won’t need to move around much.

Raksha also seems to want to cooperate on the production of the items, so I asked her to handle processing some intermediate-tier materials, as that will make the item creation faster.

Well, if her skill levels or techniques aren’t good enough, the rank of the final item will drop, but that’s fine as this quest isn’t expecting us to make something with an extremely high rank anyways.

******

“This is quite something…

“Hey, would you like to work with me? You’d be more than welcome.” One of the technicians said.

“Sorry, I already own a store.” I replied.

“I see… Such a pity.” The technician muttered.

After we finished making the recipes they gave us, I received such an invitation, but I, of course, refused it.

Raksha also had a bitter smile on her face as she saw our exchange.

On another note, the intermediate-tier material she made was neither good nor bad.

I could definitely make something of a higher rank if I did it all by myself, but she asked to cooperate and this was plenty to get the requested items done.

Thanks to her help, the production time was greatly reduced, after all, so she was quite helpful.

And well, this cooperation won’t trouble the final results of the quest, so there was no problem in accepting her help.

“To think you can make this with a low level of the Magitech skill…

“Hey, do you mind accepting a quest from us next?” One technician asked me.

“Sure, I don’t mind.” I replied.

Raksha coughed loudly, “Can we go back to our current quest now, everyone?”

“Oh, of course! Sorry about that.

“Then, this one is next.” They gave us another recipe.

“Alright.” I said.

The Magitech skill is indispensable for this quest, as all recipes here require it.

And of course, a higher level of Magitech will lead to final products of a higher rank, but it’s not like Magitech is the only needed skill here.

Even if its rank is low, I can compensate for that with my other skills that are of a pretty high level.

Due to that, everyone seems to have gotten surprised by our results.

Well, I started to get a bit distracted, so it was nice to have Raksha bring us back to focusing on the quest.

Before I realized it though, a lot of people that seemed to be from other departments had gathered here, so if we didn’t get back to crafting, more people might end up trying to start a conversation, which would further delay things.

And so, we went back to it. The next recipe they gave us was about as hard to make as steel gear.

That’s obviously not a problem to me though, as I can already make 6* steel gear. I’ll be able to handle it even if they further raise the difficulty level.

However, Raksha’s help ends here.

With the difficulty level going up, a high rank of intermediate-tier materials will also be required.

“Then, I’ll be making it on my own from now on.” I said.

“Sorry I can’t help you any more.” She replied.

“Not at all. You already helped plenty.” I told her.

******

As expected, it takes longer to produce items as their difficulty level raises, but this was still completed with an acceptable rank.

Though I don’t like the fact that the modernization of the gear is steadily raising.

What I made this time was a wearable robot suit of sorts. The kind of armor that can empower you and the like.

It may be an armor piece, but it increases both attack power and speed even without having any Options in it.

Of course, if it does get an Option, it can give even larger bonuses… It’s a pretty interesting armor piece alright.

“There is nothing wrong with it.

“Or rather, you’re actually better than us at it…” The technician muttered.

“Thank you.” I replied.

“No wonder captain Hayflick recommended you. My help actually held you back…” Raksha muttered.

“A-ahaha…” Was the only reply I could make.

There wasn’t much I could say to the crowd of people around us, who seemed to be getting depressed when looking at the finished product.

It’s a bit of a shame that I didn’t get an Option even though I made an item with a high rank though.

But well, even if I did get useful Options, the finished product will be delivered to them due to the quest, so it’s not like I’d be able to keep it anyways.

The recipe is totally mine though.

“Ms. Bucket, I’d like to talk to you for a bit.” The head technician told me.

“What is it?” I asked.

“The quest was supposed to end here, but how about you keep going for a while longer?

“Seeing you work will serve as a good stimulus for everyone, so I’d like to request you to keep at it.

“Of course, we’ll issue an additional quest with appropriate rewards in it.

“How about it?” He asked me.

That’s a very nice proposal.

The crowd of people may have groaned when seeing the finished product, but they also seemed to be looking forward to what else I can do.

And well, getting extra rewards is always good to me, so I’d be glad to participate.

However, I came here as a collaborator, so I should ask Raksha about it first.

“What do you think, Raksha?” I asked her.

“The quest is already over, so by all means, go ahead, Ms. Bucket.

“It’s honestly very educational to see you work, so as a producer, I’m also looking forward to seeing what you’ll do next.” She replied.

“Then, I’ll accept it.

“Ah, wait, before that, what are you going to request and what will the rewards be?” I told the head technician.

“Oh! You’re taking it!?

“As for the request and its rewards…” The head technician started explaining.

Since I got Raksha’s permission, I decided to accept the quest.

Just in case though, I decided to check what they were going to ask, as I’d have to decline if the request was impossible.

******

“We truly learned a lot from this. Thank you very much.” The head technician told me.

“Oh no, I’m the one who is thankful. I got plenty of recipes and rewards here, after all.” I replied.

“Well, that’s natural as you got more quests than what was originally planned.

“It was truly a learning experience though. I was lucky to be able to see your production process.” Raksha told me.

“Ahaha…” I could only give a troubled laugh as a response.

The additional NPC quest was completed successfully and its reward was quite generous.

I was a bit nervous about crafting while being stared at by so many people, but there was no problem, as the items I made were only a bit harder than steel gear.

Overall, it was the appropriate level of difficulty to me, who am already able to make steel gear with two Options in them.

And of course, it was fantastic in terms of experience.

Thanks to that, Improved Artisan’s Blacksmithing reached level 100.

Also, as I got 20 Skill Points from clearing Raksha’s quest, I was able to immediately evolve it.

After the rank went up, all the bystanders groaned even more as they saw how smoothly my next crafts went.

Evolution is truly amazing, isn’t it?

However, I was a bit disappointing that the next stage of evolution was True Artisan’s Blacksmithing. I was hoping to go beyond the Artisan’s Blacksmithing level.

Well, there was still a visible improvement with the evolution, so it’s all good anyways.

The next evolution will surely be of a higher level.

I also wonder if I’ll get any new Arts from reaching True Artisan’s Blacksmithing.

Like, Improved Merchant did get a nice Art that allowed me to see market prices set by the development team, but that’s pretty much the only skill that gave me a unique art after being evolved.

It would be nice if I could get a unique art by evolving blacksmithing enough times.

******

I said goodbye to Raksha and the technicians, then came back to my workshop.

Those were some excellent quests that gave me fantastic rewards.

But can other people even take them? I mean, I only got these quests because Hayflick contacted me, and due to the way that the AI of the NPCs in Frontiers work, the number of quests that can be taken repeatedly is limited.

As in, no quests are issued unless they’re necessary for the NPCs.

When taking this into account, I guess there should be some other way to get those recipes I just got.

What I got this time was probably a special quest that I could get because I’m so far ahead.

As in, a special reward for those who are at the top.

The recipes obtained are inferior to steel in terms of defense, but they gave some pretty good other bonuses to compensate for that.

Whether someone chooses this or steel should depend on the needs of each person, but it should still be a great item nonetheless.

And if someone can get an entire set of those, then their strength should be enhanced considerably.

A new type of equipment has now appeared, opening up new choices for everyone.

I’m sure a lot of fuss will be raised on the forums once I start selling those items.

Though that will only happen after I make a fair number of items, so… I’ll do my best!