Frontiers ~Chronicles of Bucket-san’s Detailed Pioneering~ - Chapter 80 – The first girls-only-gathering in a long while

Fourth Arc

“And that’s why I’ll start rushing now!” Mika exclaimed.

“I’m jealous…” Lulu commented.

“We can also get quite a few points though? In fact, if we make enough difficult recipes, we might even be able to catch up.” Lolita replied.

“I was certainly surprised by the Shadow Cake.” I commented.

“Ah… It is tasty at least, right?” Lulu asked.

“I never thought I’d get a special effect not by getting a special weapon, but by eating tasty food…” Mika said.

“Marron…” Hime muttered.

Today we were holding the first girls-only-gathering in a long while.

It seems like the weather became a bit cooler in September, but as the heat is still severe, air conditioning is still being used a lot.

On top of that, Mika and Hime now have less login time as summer vacation has ended… Still, thanks to their gear that is considerably above average, they seem to still be able to compete at the event with other Pioneers.

Mika in particular is getting great results with the two great weapons that I’m renting to her.

In this event you can get points by defeating the strange shadow servants that appear in various field areas, and prizes will be given to the player Pioneers with the highest amount of points by the end of the event.

And similarly to the last event, which revolved around woodcutting, there will be a big announcement on the official website when the event ends, which will list all the top contributors of the event.

For people that like this kind of honor, going all-out to get points is really appealing.

And well, unsurprisingly, Hime indeed got the first place at the last event… In fact, she had more than double the points of the person in second place, so anyone can see just how amazing she is.

It just can’t be helped that people couldn’t compete with her amazing skill of cutting trees with ten axes at the same time. Everyone that tried replicating her feats ended up giving up on it due to how hard it was.

Not to mention that Hime also used the threads to sabotage the movement of nearby enemies as well, so she is not only great at cutting trees, but is also a fantastic support.

Hime is truly amazing! The top spot belongs to nobody other than her!

“By the way, Lulu seems to be doing some research with your favorite marrons, Hime.” Lolita commented.

“Yay.” Hime replied.

“It’s gonna take a while, but… I’ll do my best.” Lulu told her.

“Thanks.” Hime said.

Some of the materials dropped by the event mobs are exclusive to this event.

There are quite a few event-exclusive recipes that make use of the Shadow Fragments dropped, and player Pioneers specialized in crafting, like me, can get event points by making recipes that make use of the Shadow Fragments even without killing any of the mobs.

It’s an event that is kind to crafters, isn’t it? I wasn’t able to participate on the woodcutting event last month, so I’m happy to be able to participate on this one.

Also, even though we do have access to event recipes, we can also try making items without using recipes… And it just so happened that Lulu is great at experimenting with different materials while doing her research to create all sorts of different sweets!

She also seems to have become a bit more used to us, so she is speaking a bit more in these girls-only-gatherings. I think we’re getting along well now.

In particular, she seems to get along with Hime quite well, so she ended up being quite enthusiastic about researching sweets using Hime’s favorite marrons.

“By the way, Hime, the prize from the event wasn’t simply a magic crystal, but a light crystal instead, right?

“How many did you get? The number wasn’t officially written on the event’s page.” Mika asked.

“Ten crystals.” Hime replied.

“Whoa! Isn’t that amazing!?” Lolita exclaimed.

“That’s a pretty high-tier magic crystal, isn’t it?” I asked just to be sure.

“The reinforcement probability with it is high, right…?” Lulu asked.

“Oh yeah! It’s a really great and really rare item!” Mika commented.

“Yes.” Hime said.

Seems like the event gave a considerable amount of rare items as its reward.

The magic crystals can be used to reinforce gear. They’re fairly rare already as is, but light crystals are much rarer.

And well, using magic crystals to enhance your gear is one of the best ways of improving your overall effectiveness.

Granted, it’s better to just buy gear of a higher tier if it’s available, but…

Well steel gear is the highest tier that we know of. And I’m already making it.

Steel is also very rarely available at NPC stores, as it is very hard to make and it takes a long time to make each individual piece, so the supply is still scarce even though the recipes have been available since the start.

Still, the performance of steel is nothing to scoff at… But of course, this also comes with an extremely high market price.

I was happy that I knew what was the next type of gear I would be able to make next as I progressed through the levels of Blacksmithing, but I don’t really know what comes after Steel… I mean, I do know that things like the Dark Short Sword or the Sealed Dark Mysterious Sword exist, but I mostly made them by chance and by using rare materials. It’s not really easy to replicate that.

Due to all that, if one wants to enhance their gear, the ideal way to go about it would be to enhance steel gear.

Hime already has a full steel set, so she might not have enough magic crystals to enhance them all, but the light crystal has a much higher enhancement rate, so I’d say it would be a good idea to use it on steel gear.

That said, there is a low chance of destroying your gear when you try enhancing it… And as of this moment, I can still only make 3* steel items.

Items of 5* or higher are in a safe zone that guarantees success on their first enhancement, so it might be better to use the crystals on those.

Raising rank has other benefits aside from making it easier to get Options, after all.

“So, have you used then yet?” I asked Hime.

“Not yet.” Hime replied.

“What!? Why!?” Mika asked.

“Waiting for Option.” Hime told us.

“Makes sense to me!” Mika exclaimed.

“Do you think you’ll be able to make 4* gear soon, Bucket?” Lolita asked me.

“Seems like it will still take a while… Leveling started taking forever after I got the Artisan’s Blacksmithing skill.” I replied.

“Seriously? I’m already struggling with Improved Sewing, but it takes even longer afterwards…?

“To think even you would struggle with skill levels…” Lolita was disheartened.

“It’s okay. Lalalu will surely become an Artisan soon… You’re already an artisan in fact.” Lulu cheered her up.

“Yes. Thank you for the new piece.” Hime nodded.

“Ehe. This time I tried using the Jade Thread that I got from exchanging event points! I’m really proud of it!” Lolita exclaimed.

As usual, Lolita then started showing off the new items that she has made, which turned into a fashion show that primarily involved Hime.

Hime herself is happy to wear the clothes as she is a big fan of Lolita’s works, so there is no problem on her end.

She hides it behind her mask, but Hime actually has a very beautiful face. Her body is a bit shorter than average, but it ends up going really well together with the excessively frilly clothes that Lolita loves making.

And well, we also love watching the fashion shows, so it’s a win-win relationship where everyone has fun, right?

******

“Ah, it’s already this late… I have to go back to earning points.” Mika said.

“Will you be going back to the areas near the capital instead of the newly opened areas?” I asked her.

“Yeah. I can’t find the shadow enemies while exploring new areas after all…” Mika grumbled.

“They don’t appear during woodcutting either…” Hime also grumbled.

“They really don’t appear much…” Lulu commented.

“Well, the event is just starting! I’m sure they’ll start appearing at high-level areas in the latter half, right!?” Lolita said she was sure, but ended her statement with a question…

“T-that’s right!” Mika seemed to be cheered up by that half-baked cheer up attempt though.

Mika was enthusiastic at the start of the event, but shadow mobs only appearing in low-level areas has been bothering her lately.

She wants to participate in it, but she also wants to explore the areas recently unlocked during the woodcutting event… Her party was also the first to clear the Eku Labyrinth, so she takes pride in being the first to fully explore those hazardous area and wants to keep on doing the exploration.

After all, isn’t there a charm in being the first to accomplish a particularly tough task? Not to mention that Mika likes the fame obtained by doing these kinds of things.

“Then, I guess we can end it here for today?” I asked everyone.

“Yeah, but I had lots of fun talking to everyone today!

“Being able to do girls-only-gatherings with all members is the best… I want to find more time to keep on doing them.” Lolita replied.

“Agreed.” Hime nodded.

“Well, Hime and Mika restarted school, and both Lolita and Lulu have jobs, so… It’s a bit hard to find the time, isn’t it?” I said.

“Well, everyone should have time during the weekends at least, right? It would only be once per week, but it would still be good, wouldn’t it?” Mika suggested.

“That would be nice.” Lolita replied.

We haven’t been able to hold girls-only-gatherings because of the last spurt of the event and of the Eku Labyrinth exploration, but it seems like we’ll be able to hold them at least once a week from now on.

I spend a lot of time logged in, so I can easily adjust to their available times, so it’s not a problem to me.

Well, more or less. Even if I play for quite a while, I still have a very strict schedule, so I’m the same as everyone else to some extent.

In particular, I’m absolutely forbidden from pulling all-nighters.

******

I was able to fully enjoy the girls-only-gathering after a long time without having them.

After all, it’s fun talking to the people I’m close to.

We were also able to share event-related information, which was quite meaningful.

The living room of the workshop now felt quite lonely after seeing everyone off. There is no problem though, as I will immediately start my crafting.

… Well, let’s call Homun for a bit first. Work can start after some cherishing time!