Chapter 15: That Thing That Irritates You When Time Efficiency Is Poor
This is incredibly late to say, but if you leave comments or impressions, the author will put on a creepy grin and get a motivation boost.
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Stone
A completely ordinary stone fragment.
It has no value whatsoever as ore, but it can be used as a sling stone. -
Gray Iron Ore
Gray iron ore.
It has no special effects, but it can be processed for all kinds of uses.
It doesn't develop a sheen even when polished, so as ornament material it's bottom of the barrel. -
Silver Iron Ore
Silver-colored iron ore.
Equipment made with this gains the Magic Fortitude effect.
Silver, but iron. -
Marsh Coffin Fossil
A fossil that is probably part of some monster.
The Marsh Coffins standing all over the Four-Wheel-Drive Eight-Wheel-Drive Swamp Wasteland sometimes contain memories of creatures from the distant past.
Whether what you dig up is merely a vestige of the past or a legacy from the past is down to luck...
Spending ten straight minutes mechanically swinging a pickaxe was pretty kusoge-ish (meaning: like a kusoge), but the results were pretty damn good, if I do say so myself.
Especially that one Marsh Coffin Fossil that just happened to drop. The thing absolutely reeks of ultra-rare item.
Apparently, after you mine it a certain number of times, the rock... marsh pillar? object crumbles and can't be mined any further. The marsh pillar collapsed right after it dropped the last piece of Gray Iron Ore.
Sunraku: "So, what now...?"
Well, the best move is probably to head back and have a weapon made. First I want to see what I can craft with what I just collected. If I'm short on materials, I'll shoulder the pickaxe again. If I've got enough, I'll level with the weapon I get made, then shoulder the pickaxe again.
There are still tons of marsh pillars in this area. For now, I'll dig through them one after another and test the items.
Still, it really helped that my high school started summer vacation earlier than most. Summer vacation is the money-making season for pretty much every industry. Naturally, with SLF charging straight toward god-tier-game status, it's obvious it'll break sales records over summer vacation. From here on out, the first town is probably going to fill up with new players.
It's a bad way to put it, but if all those new players start adventuring at once, every area and every item will get devoured like a swarm of locusts. Apparently they have countermeasures in place, but having players everywhere you look would be pretty... yeah, annoying.
Sunraku: "Hey! I gathered some ore. What can you make with this?"
Blacksmith: "Let's see it... Hoh, you brought back a pretty good haul. I think I can make most things with this."
So mining out one whole marsh pillar gives you enough to make a weapon. Unless something unusual happens, that means there isn't much need for a small number of players to keep mining the pillars nonstop. Well, I'm gonna do it anyway.
Sunraku: "Hmm, hmm..."
Two of the newly displayed weapons caught my eye.
- Marsh Dagger — 10,000 Mani
- Ferocious Twin Saws — 16,000 Mani
Sunraku: "Well, I'm only curious about the other one. I already know what I'm buying. Make me two Marsh Daggers."
I sold off the items I earned in The Rampant Forest, so I've got a decent amount of cash to spare. Besides, I'm going to keep mining marsh pillars and hunting monsters either way, so I can just buy the other one later.
Blacksmith: "Sure thing. You a dual wielder, kid?"
Sunraku: "Hm? Yeah, pretty much."
Blacksmith: "Been a long time since I made two copies of the same weapon for dual wielding! Hah hah hah!!"
Huh. Are dual wielders rare?
That said, apparently this wasn't a case of handing over the materials and money and—done.
He told me, "Come back when night falls!" so now I had time on my hands.
Sunraku: "What should I do...?"
Well, level, I guess.
So, here I am back at the Four-Wheel-Drive Eight-Wheel-Drive Swamp Wasteland. I thought about what to do until nightfall, but in the end I decided to level.
I need money too, so for now I'll mass-hunt Mud Frogs. Yep, that's the plan.
Then, maybe because this is a game, a shrill cry rings out above my head as if to announce, I'm about to attack you now, so get ready.
I look up and see the bird I caught a glimpse of when I first came here. Looking at it properly now, it's more like a vulture? Either way, the monster is diving straight at me.
Sunraku: "Nice of the test subject to come to me."
I sidestep the vulture as it tries to rake my head with its sharp talons, then slam a Goblin's Hand Axe into its leg.
???: "GYAAEE!!?"
Sunraku: "Ugh! It broke in one hit!?"
One side screams from the pain, the other from the loss. The axe was worn, but it still had about two-thirds of its durability left. I can't believe it broke in one hit. Is this monster so tough that a Goblin's Hand Axe just won't work on it, or are those legs especially hard...? Whatever.
Sunraku: "Hraah!"
I throw the other axe at the vulture, then pull out two fresh ones—well, fresh except for the wear they took when I killed Mud Frogs—and close in while the vulture's movement is stopped by the axe that hit its wing.
Sunraku: "Head! Wing! Body! Leg again!!"
Damn, I've hit it plenty, but it still won't go down. Are Goblin's Hand Axes only good up through Mud Frogs? Mercilessly beating a grounded vulture with stone tools is a pretty surreal sight, but after around forty seconds of nonstop pounding, the vulture finally bursts into polygons and leaves a feather behind.
Sunraku: "That took forever... And it's a feather."
I pick it up and examine it.
- Bandit Vulture Feather
A single feather from a Bandit Vulture.
It is literally just a feather, and aside from being used as proof of membership in the Thieves' Guild, it has no value.
But precisely because of that, it is a badge of those who were once treated as nothing more than criminals.
Sunraku: "That's so not worth it!!"
I can't help screaming at just how little value I got for all that effort.