Frontiers ~Chronicles of Bucket-san’s Detailed Pioneering~ - Chapter 87 – They’re cute! And soothing!

Good morning.

Although it is still quite hot today, Frontiers is as comfortable as ever… It’s wonderful!

Today I’m going to take the test for purchasing advanced facilities.

Unfortunately, it’s midnight in-game right now, so I can’t go take the test as the NPCs are sleeping.

Therefore, let’s do some crafting as usual until it’s daytime. I have to restock my store, after all.

******

Seems like my limit is still 3* with my current skills, techniques and materials.

That’s good enough for restocking the store with steel gear, but I’m still dissatisfied with this because I made 4* gear once.

Well, I’m probably a bit closer to the 4* level regardless, as I evolved another skill… Tool Artisan. It is the evolved version of Improved Tool Making.

Due to that, I was able to make higher rank tools, though they’re still of intermediate tier as I don’t have any better recipes for them.

I want new recipes as soon as possible. Getting more NPC quests is probably the best way to go about it, but the second floor of the library should be the second-best option.

I wanted to evolve Language in order to read the books on the second floor, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Tool Making was a higher priority, as it is directly related to my crafting efficiency.

And well, it’s undeniable that there were some visible improvements after evolution, but… I can’t help regretting it. It’s a useful skill, so there should be no problems, but…!

Language will have to wait a bit longer, I suppose…

In any case, I now have more skills at the Artisan level. I also have a good workshop and am working towards making it even better, so it’s good that my skills are keeping up with my facilities.

It would just feel wrong to keep on having my own workshop while still having just Improved-tier skills! I want to evolve all my crafting-related skills to Artisan level!

I need a huge amount of Skill Points to do that though, which is something I’m sorely lacking… At this rhythm, I’ll eventually have all my skills maxed and become unable to evolve anything.

Therefore, I need Skill Points from quest rewards as soon as possible! Any amount is fine, so please give me quests!

******

After getting the gear evaluated at the Guild, restocking the store and updating the blog, it was now my free time.

However, this time I made less steel equipment than usual, so I think I’ll continue making them until noon.

After all, even if I do pass the exam for the advanced facilities, I’ll still need the funds to buy them, and they’re by no means cheap.

Therefore, I want to raise as many funds as possible!

… Though I also want to make event items. I especially want to make more of the event-exclusive Magical Formation that requires Large Shadow Crystals.

I recently bought one of the crystals from Mika anyways, so I should be able to use it for a new Magical Formation and re-sell it for quite a bit.

It’s also nice that it takes less time to make this Magical Formation when compared to steel equipment, and its profit margin is very solid when compared to how long it takes to make it.

Moreover, I’m fairly sure Mika will be willing to buy the next one of those that I make, so it will probably sell in no time.

Well, there aren’t many things that I make that end up being unsold in the first place. Probably because I make products according to demand.

Which is why I never touch copper or bronze equipment nowadays, unless I receive a quest for it that is.

Mr. Kederick can make quests requesting for steel equipment, but the other NPCs usually ask for either copper or bronze, or maybe iron at most.

On another note, together with the start of the current event, a new facility has been added to the facility store. It’s the Beginner’s Magical Crafting Simplifier Device.

I wonder if there are also intermediate and advanced tiers for it.

Well, in any case, this device is particularly useful because it can quickly process intermediate materials. Even if you are at a beginner level, the device can help you do it automatically. It is very helpful both as a timer saver and as a way of allowing one to process intermediate materials without the necessary skills to handle them.

However, there are some downsides to it… Notably, it consumes a lot magical power first and foremost.

Additional materials are also required in order to obtain the same effect as you’d normally get… The exact amount of extra materials depends on the recipe, but you quite often end up needing a fair number of Magic Stones to make this work.

Therefore, the material cost will increase significantly when compared to processing the materials manually.

Moreover, you don’t get any skill levels when processing materials with this device… I mean, that makes sense since the process is automatic, but it’s still a pretty troublesome downside.

Due to that, I don’t feel like I need this device, but… Well, it would be really nice to quickly process the intermediate materials.

Though it would be pointless to do that if the final result was of low rank. I need high-rank intermediate materials to make steel gear. Especially now that I’m so close to getting my advanced facilities! Lowering the material rank would be unacceptable if I want to make 4* equipment!

In the end, I guess it might be better to just let my summons handle the more menial tasks instead of using this kind of device. They are fairly fast at making things anyways… Not to mention that their cuteness is incredibly soothing!

… Most people don’t seriously consider summoning as useful for crafting though. In fact, people on the forums are saying summons as completely obsoleted by this device.

Even their cuteness isn’t being enough of a selling point, as Minicot has taken over the role of a cute pet now…

Well, they’re still useful in battle, so people still find uses for summoning, but… Well, as far as crafting goes, it seems like most people on the forums have completely given up on them.

Oh well, I suppose that can’t be helped. I wasn’t seriously trying to make summoning more popular anyways.

The important part to me, is that I’m not gonna use this new device, and will instead continue relying on my summons.

However, my level of Summoning is already 100… As in, it’s at the maximum.

And like, the priority to evolve this skill is really low.

As far as the Arts I have obtained so far go, the only benefit I’d get from evolving Summoning, would be an increase on the number of Summons I can have up at the same time, and a decrease on their magical consumption while they’re summoned.

I could see that being useful in combat, but that’s useless to me.

I mean, having more summons would be helpful to make more products, but as their skill level is only half of mine, I can only use them to make very simple items that can’t really be put up for sale at the store.

… I guess it is hard to effectively use summons when crafting.

But that’s fine! It’s thanks to my summons and to Minicot that this lonely workshop becomes lively!

… Though I can’t really talk to them at all.

******

I kept on making steel gear until noon. As usual though, I wasn’t able to make that many items.

Well, I can no longer avoid it… Let’s do this!

Taking a deep breath, I decided to start moving to the place that sells the facilities in order to take the exam.

I have been to that store quite a few times, so let’s not waste any more time and go.

Also, this exam doesn’t really require any sort of advance appointments. I just need to go there and ask about it.

The type of item I need to deliver will be specified on the moment I take the test. All I have to do is tell the receptionist that I want to take the exam and they’ll issue it as a quest on the spot.

As for the contents of the test… I got… Making a few 3* steel ingots and rivets?

That’s not hard at all, or rather… Don’t I have some of them on my inventory right now?

… I don’t!

Because I only have them at 4* with me.

What bad luck… Or well, I guess I should be happy that my skills are already above the level of the exam.

Isn’t this great? Let’s just hurry back to the workshop and make those items already!

Making items of a specific rank is something I’m used to by now due to NPC quests, so it’s not a problem at all!

******

“I have confirmed that you made the items properly, so you pass the exam. Congratulations.

“Then here is the license to purchase Advanced Facilities.” The receptionist told me.

“Thank you.” I replied.

I quickly went to the workshop, made the requested items, then came back to the facilities’ store and delivered them.

It took less than an hour to do all that… It’s ridiculous that I was nervous about this exam.

But well, the important part is that I can now purchase advanced facilities!

Wait, now that I think about it, I don’t have a license to purchase intermediate facilities… Mr. Kederick’s introduction letter completely skipped the exam step, but shouldn’t I have gotten a license anyways?

Well, that doesn’t matter. What I need now is to raise funds to buy my advanced facilities.

Let’s keep on crafting and selling lots of items!