Frontiers ~Chronicles of Bucket-san’s Detailed Pioneering~ - Chapter 72 – Give me the leftovers!

After having enough of my energies recovered by Homun and Gol, it was now time to raise my Skill Levels so that I can evolve more skills!

I already finished restocking the store, and while I could try continuing the experiments, I think I’ll wait until I find out if Mika can sell me the Lich Bones or not.

While there is some information about how Add works on the forums, the details are still mostly unknown. Probably because people aren’t aware of what is needed to properly process the materials before using Add.

In fact, even I only got the necessary Intermediate Equipment necessary for the processing recently, so it will probably take a while until the information reaches anyone outside of Works.

But because of that, I don’t have that much information to base myself on, and I have to figure out how to proceed on my own.

And well, even with the extra deadline provided to big stores such as the Kederick Store. I still don’t have that much time available until the auction… If I had more time, I could slowly keep on experimenting, but that is not the case.

Moreover, while I don’t feel troubled by crafting things for long periods of time, I actually feel quite frustrated if I try experimenting for long… And to think that’s exactly what the people on the Cooking and Alchemy fields do… Those fields are definitely not for me.

In the end, I’d rather get the results of other people’s research and do my best with it, over doing that research myself.

******

Currently speaking, the best skills for raising Skill Level would be Improved Magical Formations, Improved Leatherworking, Improved Woodworking, Improved Alchemy, Improved Magic Language, Decipher and Doll Making… Well, that, and Magical Gloves too.

Though it’s hard to raise the Skill Level of Magical Gloves, as I don’t really participate in hunts.

The only thing I do to raise the level of Magical Gloves, is testing out each new doll I make to make sure it is working properly. The skill reached level 11 because of that, but that isn’t much when considering how many dolls I already made.

You’d normally need to go to battle if you wanted to raise the level of Magical Gloves… But maybe I could try increasing the time I spend manipulating dolls?

Well… I think it’s better to just focus on reading instead. Reading is already good because it raises both Magic Language and Decipher, but it also satisfies my reading desires and can even give me recipes, so… It’s like killing four birds with one stone! Reading is definitely the winner here!

Therefore, let’s go to the library. It’s been a while since I last went there for anything other than borrowing books, so let’s go and read a bit, since it’s good for a change of pace.

I also want to check if the 5* Guild rank allows me access to the second floor anyways.

******

As a result of reading until my midday logout time, the results ended up being better than expected.

Ah, and I already finished lunch, for the record.

The results were, of course, Skill Points and Recipes.

I also got permission to browse the second floor of the library, but I couldn’t read any of the books there for some reason.

Or well, the reason is actually easy to deduce. The books on the first floor need the language Skill, so the books on the second floor probably need Improved Language to be read.

Still, the books on the first floor are enough for now, since I didn’t finish reading them all for the time being… And well, I don’t have enough Skill Points to evolve Language, even though it is already at lv 100.

In any case, once I felt like I had spent enough time at the library, I decided to borrow ten books, the maximum that I can get by having Language at level 100, then go back to the Workshop.

It certainly was a good change of pace to read at the library. It was quite the enjoyable experience.

But now that I’m back to the workshop, it’s time to draw my beloved Magical Formations!

I mean, Improved Leatherworking and Improved Woodworking would get levels faster than Improved Magical Formations, but I have my priorities, with Magical Formations definitely being at the top.

Sure, I wasn’t worn out by reading, but… I got new recipes. There is no way I would refrain from drawing the new Magic Circles that I obtained!

******

The recipes for Magic Circles that I found so far had mostly been beginner recipes and support spells.

However, this time I got an intermediate elemental magic. It was still one of the most basic ones, but it was still an Intermediate Magic Circle.

Well, it was just the evolved version of a basic spell in fact, but I know that evolution makes a big difference, so the effect will definitely be a lot stronger now.

Of course, I never tested evolved combat-skills, but from the information I saw on the forums, evolution definitely helps a lot in combat too.

And of course, the main advantage of using Magical formations, is that you can use them without training your skills nor consuming your precious Skill Points… And I definitely understand how important this is, as I’m constantly suffering from Skill Points shortage.

And well, I’m not the only one either. Plenty of people talk about that on the forums, and it probably will only get harder and harder to get Skill Points as we keep on evolving our skills.

Especially because Skill Points can only be obtained by raising the levels of other skills, so it ends up forcing everyone to branch out quite a bit… After all, even if one learns a new skill solely for the sake of getting Skill Points, they’d still need to dedicate a lot of time into leveling that skill if they want said Skill Points.

Well, in any case, the Intermediate Magical Formation was more complicated than normal, but I have plenty of experience drawing the beginner-tier Magical Formations, so it didn’t take that long for me to complete this one.

But the final result surprised me… I’m curious if this will truly be useful when it has only this many uses.

With the 5* Magic Paper, I can make a basic Fire Bullet Magical Formation with 10 uses total… But this new Intermediate Magical Formation…

——

Magic Circle: Improved Wind Bullet

Item/5*/4 Uses

——

Isn’t that bad?

Especially because its market price is 10x the price of the beginner-tier Fire Buller that has 10 uses.

Magical Formations truly consume a lot of money, don’t they? It may be much cheaper than Steel Gear, but it’s still a consumable item, so it can’t be evaluated in the same way.

I hope this has enough power to match its price.

In any case, I felt a lot more satisfied from drawing those more complicated Magical Formations than I did when drawing the beginner ones… I think I’ll be completely fulfilled even if I draw as little as ten sheets.

Raising the levels of skills to gather Skill Points can wait until later! Let’s draw a lot!

******

By the time I realized it, it was already pitch-black outside.

… But it was bright when I came back from the library…

Well, it’s fine. It was a time well-spent where I could thoroughly enjoy myself, even if I ended up making several times more than just ten sheets of Magical Formations.

Though I also seem to have gotten a reply from Mika… Looking at its timestamp, I seem to have received it right after I started drawing… I didn’t notice it at all.

How come? There should be a notification when a message is received, so I should have seen it… This is too strange.

In any case, Mika told me that she has no problems in selling me her Lich Bones… In fact, the only reason she didn’t sell them yet, is because she forgot about them.

Because well, they aren’t useful for much other than Add.

In any case, I was late to it, but I replied. Soon enough, Mika sent me an angry message telling me that I was late.

Though she wasn’t really angry. She’d have called me if it was a serious issue, after all.

Regardless of that, it will take a while for Mika to arrive, so I guess I’ll work on making products for the store in the meantime?

Of course, that means steel items. This will also help me level Leatherworking and Woodworking, so it’s a good choice for grinding Skill Points.

After all, I need to process a large amount of intermediate-tier materials to make Steel gear, which is just what Improved Leatherworking and Improved Woodworking need.

On the other hand, Improved Sewing and Weaving don’t get many levels as heavy gear doesn’t use those skills much. They’re primarily useful for improving the comfort of the items.

… Not to mention that Weaving is at level 100 already, so it can’t even get levels right now.

******

Mika arrived a bit after midnight on in-game time.

I wasn’t able to make that much steel gear in this meantime due to how long it takes to craft those items.

… Well, I would have been able to do more if I didn’t spend that long drawing Magical Formations, but you lose if you care too much about those things.

“For the time being, I’ll sell almost all of them to you and keep a little to myself.” Mika told me.

“Thank you.

“So… What’s the catch?” I asked her.

She giggled a bit in response, “As expected of my best friend!”

“I mean, how many years have we been together by now? This kind of thing is easy to understand!” I exclaimed.

“I guess so… Well, I wanted you to make steel gear for my party members.” Mika told me.

“Impossible.” I instantly replied.

“Impossible!? Come on! Just a bit! It doesn’t have to be full sets, but at least some items for them!” Mika asked.

“… Just a few pieces, alright?” I replied after a small pause.

“Yeah! As expected of you, Yuri! I love you!” Mika hugged me.

“Yeah yeah, but that’s just because of the bones, alright?

“And I really can’t make that many items for them.” I told her.

“I know, I know! You need to restock the store after all! I just want you to try accommodating for me a bit in-between restockings!” Mika replied.

Since I was able to get a large amount of Lich bones, I decided to break my usual policy this time around.

After all, there is a large line at my store each time I restock it, so it would be difficult for Mika’s party to line up and get the items when they’re exploring the last layer of the Eku Labyrinth.

“Well, let’s leave it at that. It’s a courtesy just because of how hard it is for your party to line up in front of the store.

“In any case, how is the dungeon exploration going? You were close to the end just the other day, weren’t you?” I asked Mika.

“Ah, it will probably take a while longer. We can already see something that looks like a Boss Gate, but it’s hard to get close to it.” She explained.

“I see… It’s the first dungeon, but it’s surprisingly difficult, isn’t it?” I commented.

“Somewhat? I mean, the maze certainly gets in the way for those things.” She replied.

“I see…” Was all I could say for a reply.

I suppose it takes a while to find your way around a maze when you’re the first people on the bottom of the dungeon. You can’t rely on maps when nobody made a map yet.

“Alright, then I’ll go back to exploring!” Mika suddenly exclaimed.

“Okay. Thank you for your patronage.” I replied.

“You got it!

“Oh, but do leave me the leftovers of the gear you make, please!” Mika said.

“Leftovers…” I couldn’t help muttering… As if I ever have any leftovers of steel gear of all things…

In any case, after Mika excitedly left the workshop, I resumed the production of steel items.

I hadn’t made that many in the first place, and with some extras being sold to Mika, the remaining amount was even smaller.

Well, I still have some time left, so… I’ll do my best! Let’s make as many items as possible!