Volume 2, Extra 2.1

Volume 2, Extra 2.1

Translator: Reflet

Editor: Weasalopes

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「Imma pound in the ink, so hold it tight.」

「Kaaay.」

Azuma Workshop was currently in the middle of expanding construction in Wulls.

「Hiroshi, do we gotta bring over more wood, eh?」

「If there ain’t enough we can go defeat some more hunter trees, eh?」

「Nah, I think we’re good here, mate.」

Finishing the measuring and ink stamping, Hiroshi calculated the foundation as he replied to Goivejon and Foeldan.

「Hasn’t even been a year since we reformed it. I can’t believe we would ever have to add on to it.」

「Welp, can’t be helped. Factory space is one thing, but in order to accommodate a forest giant, it’s a bit small.」

「Sorry ’bout dat.」

「It’s cool, mate, don’t worry. There haven’t been enough men helpin’ out here, plus yer a darn good help.」

Everyone nodded in agreement. Azuma Workshop never had any issues with lewd conduct, but it was also true that it was a bit careless to have no men whatsoever. Still, two of the girls were hardly older than children, plus Aearis would frequently make her way in. They couldn’t just let any old guy in. In that sense, forest giants were perfect because of having little sexual drive. Furthermore, elder goblins had practically no sexual drive at their age.

In actuality, any member of the human sub-species could mate with any other combination of humanoid. With the right requirements, forest giants and humans, elves, even fairies and pixies could all have offspring. Still, normally humans, elves, dwarves, and some humanoid beasts would not generally mate to produce half-children unless they liked their appearance, stature, or aesthetic sense. This was to be expected though, since their sexual drive would emerge in different ways. Other than races like minotaurs with no women, there was no one mad enough to be okay with just any female.

「I’m thinkin’ of makin’ this side of the buildin’ the men’s dorms while we’re at it. How ’bout it?」

「Well, I don’t have a problem with that.」

「It makes sense for hiring in the long term.」

Everyone agreed with Hiroshi’s proposal. They’d have to go around the hinterlands setting up transportation circles and bringing over people from all around anyway. Plus they’d already received demand for expanding the workshop.

「Alright, imma start by finishin’ up the foundation, so Haruna-san, I’d like ya to help out for yer trainin’. Mio, I’d like ya to lecture Fum ‘n the others.」

「Got it.」

「I can use anything to teach them, right?」

「Do whatcha wanr.」

Mio gathered a bunch of materials that looked good after getting approved. She intended to give a lecture on Class 7 potions and every type of expendable that fell into that rank.

「Alright, we’re finishin’ the exterior by tomorrow, y’all.」

「It’s gonna be done by dat time?」

「Heck yeah mate, this size is nothin’.」

Just as Hiroshi said so confidently, the foundation was layed out with no abnormalities before day was up.

「So this is what Class 7 potions are like. Think you can handle it?」

「…Wait, we use it for things like that?」

「It’s really difficult to get precision……」

「Yeah, keeping the speed at a constant is a lot of trouble……」

The three of them groaned after actually trying to implement the lecture. They still hadn’t reached the point where they could use enchantments or alchemy for other purposes, but this was incredibly difficult for craftspeople who were still struggling with Class 8.

「Let me just say that Haru recently became able to cast even the most rudimentary of short-hand enchantments at this level.」

「……That’s way too fast of a progression, even if she’s always with Boss Man and Mio-san……」

「……I already doubt if Boss Man is even human, but Haruna-san? She must be pretending to be human……」

Mio burst out laughing at Teres and Nora’s comments. Although anyone could tell she generally had a poker face, it wasn’t like she was incapable of smiling.

To add further, Haruna had truly begun crafting 8 months ago. Given how she had levelled up her harvest and enchantment skills to 15 and how she still had materials left over, Haruna hadn’t grown all that quickly. Besides, making condiments didn’t just up your cooking skills, it also upped your potion-making and alchemy skills among other things. As a result of that, making curry bread had led to some rich training for other skills on a regular basis.

Still, even Haruna had yet to break through Novice Rank. Even if she could take on short-hand enchantments, all she could really do was slightly improve the quality of items a bit or make some work easier to handle, and she wasn’t able to make potions from lower-rank items like Hiroshi or Mio could. In the end, a beginner was a beginner.

「I’ve already discussed this with them a certain amount, so this time around we’ll be gathering ingredients from around the Ortem Village area. It’s pretty easy to get your hands on Class 7 ingredients over there.」

「Understood.」

「So we can harvest Class 7 ingredients too?」

「It’s not much different from anything up to Class 8 for raw materials.」

Mio said, clarifying the basic characteristics of each material. The three of them listened with serious faces, taking attentive notes. In the amount of time that had transpired before this, Fum as well as Lime (who was not currently present) had learned how to read and write, so you could say they were good resources from how they were able to lecture on fairly difficult material.

The game was similar in that gathering raw materials didn’t have much of a difference anywhere below Class 8 or above Class 7. The only real point where materials and completed product harvest difficulty changed greatly with rank was after Class 5. Once you got to Class 6, the materials tended to spawn in locations that were troublesome for beginners, and gathering everything in large quantities was the real hassle.

Furthermore, not only were ingredients an impediment for getting past novice class; the conditions for raising one’s skill level were also harsh. For intermediate class and up, failing still meant your skill level increased, but for novice class, nothing could be gained from failing, no matter how close you were to success. On top of that, stamina consumption per second was in the maximum 1%, far more severe than mid and upper class. And then once your stamina got to a certain point, fatigue penalty would set in and success rate would lower. Yes, Teres and other two had gotten much better as of recent, but the stamina consumption trap was still severe, becoming a large wall that stood in the way of improving their crafting capacity and skills.

「Also, it’d be best if you learned how to make tools tomorrow.」

Mio suddenly added in.

「We’re making the tools ourselves?」

Nora asked, bewildered.

「Of course.」

Within seconds, Mio had shot her objection down.

If they weren’t able to at least make tools for themselves to use, things would get real troublesome. Especially like the forging hammer that Hiroshi used, there were tools that required you put some serious enchantments for the base of special ingredients, and these tools couldn’t be obtained just by paying money. Besides, before the industry became subdivided to the max, Japan had always had highly skilled craftsmen, and they were also great at making tools. As long as there were similar patterns in this world, those who called themselves craftsmen absolutely had to make their own tools and equipment.

That was what Hiroshi, Mio, Haruna and the others were like, but for craftspeople who barely fledglings, they unfortunately had not even imagined that they might have to make tools eventually. Then again, since all of the supplies for the tasks they were currently working on could be obtained from the Adventurers’ Association, they had plenty of convenient little tools on hand. Maybe it was a little unreasonable to expect them to see that coming. Besides, they had never seen Hiroshi and the others working with tools before.

「So no tools from the marketplace?」

「Do you really think that the hammer Sensei uses can just be obtained there?」

「Ugh」

「Besides, unless you want to be satisfied with condiments and Class 7 potions, anything above that will need something with better function than those market tools.」

Now Mio had given them a concrete example and an ultimatum. The three of them fell into complete silence.

「You won’t go making difficult things like that from the get-go, rest assured.」

「That’s not all that reassuring……」

「Besides, even with the three of us together, the most our power amounts to is a wooden pestle.」

The pestle was one of the tools most prone to wear and tear. Teres found herself readily agreeing with that comparison. True, the three of them could make one of those as long as no one was picky about the shape. But at this pace the tool would wear out fairly quickly (after about a year).

「So for now we have gathering ingredients for tools tomorrow, and then I’ll guide you to a place where you can get some ore, so first we’ll do some excavation training there.」

「All we ever do is physical labor……」

「And making potions? Even that’s a race to see how long it takes for my arms to wear out……」

「Craftsmen need both physical and mental aptitude, I’d say……」

The sun was still high up, but after having heard about their spartan assignment schedule, the three students had tired expressions on their faces. But these girls did not know that they had yet to even climb up the long slope that was crafting.