Volume 2, Extra 2.4

Volume 2, Extra 2.4

Translator: Reflet

Editor: Weasalopes

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「Give it a lil check.」

「This rod feels incredibly elaborate or something. Way different than before.」

「Well that’s cause the extent of the enhancement of the ingredients is different. It’s makeshift as before, but this time ‘round we got different ingredients leadin’ to a different outcome in both what we can make ‘n the amount of effort put in.」

Smiling awkwardly at Hiroshi’s rather vague statement, Tatsuya activated the rod and initiated several light spells. On one hand, it was incredibly easy to control. On the other hand, the amplification was so high that it was actually difficult to hold back. As Tatsuya considered all this, he activated several shortened arias and then immediately cancelled them.

「……Hey.」

「What?」

「Just now, I succeeded in two-fold activation without even using cheats. Wanna explain?」

「Well that’s to be expected cause it functions with multiple activation sequences. And whaddya mean “cheat”?」

「When you activate magic during an aria at the right time that has no delay, no aria, and no cooldown, you end up being able to activate two spells simultaneously in exchange for the cost rapidly increasing.」

「Oho. I didn’t know that part, mate.」

The staff that Hiroshi made had multiplex aria functions built into it. 5 kinds for Novice. 3 kinds for Intermediate, and even the Holy Octo-Cannon level could handle 2 kinds at the same time; a truly heinous staff. Naturally, the cost would consume only whatever was activated. There was no way Hiroshi would not deal with such problems.

「Also, one more thing I’m questioning. Isn’t the invocation cost oddly light?」

「Ah, you too, Tatsuya-san?」

「Oh no, looks like ya found out.」

Hiroshi answered calmly as he made the black sand steel for the katana.

「So what’d you do?」

「All y’all helped hunt the garbarensia, so I thought it’d make a good darn catalyst if I combined it with evil ent leaf veins.」

「I’m sorta too scared to ask now, but did you put some sort of enchantment on it?」

「Magic invocation cost 75% cut and battle skill invocation cost 75% cut. I seared ‘em into the weapon.」

「WHAAAT!?」

The three others in the area all shrieked in disbelief.

「What, ya don’t gotta be all that surprised do ya?」

Hiroshi grumbled with a scowl, having already begun preparations to forge the longsword. However, not a single person there was going to let him out of this easy……

「Do you even know how freaking ridiculous that is!?」

「Ridiculous, schmediculous. It’s just yer average advanced enchantment for the most part.」

「Equipment with that kind of enchantment can’t even be found in the middle level of Purgatory!」

「Yeah, but then there are plenty of special function weapons in Purgatory that ya can’t reproduce with magic tools or enchantments. Plus I already put Reduce Consumption on Bro’s staff while I was on the other side.」

「Uhh, I wasn’t looking too hard in the first place because a staff that deadly is too dangerous for me to use!」

Makoto and the others made no effort to listen to Hiroshi’s excuses, instead continuing to try and denounce him. Incidentally, more than half of the special functions unique to equipment found in Purgatory were way too peculiar, essentially choosing their owners, while the other remaining half were at most superior extras. Also, Hiroshi misunderstood this part, but if this were only about the characteristic functions of the middle level of Purgatory, as long as you both acquired all of the crafting extra skills and gathered every possible material on the same floor, it was possible to reproduce such items. Then again, crafting already required you to be a shut-in and was much too challenging to master, so no one had yet confirmed this information—unless you were one of the developers or God.

「I should also add that it’s just a simple enchantment, so ya can attach it to any weapon.」

「……Sorry, I sort of feel dizzy……」

「I honestly wanted to cast a 95% cut on it, but not only would I hafta go to the Big Spirit Cave to gather ‘em all, the crafting amount is suuuper low, y’all.」

「Could you just not say any more scary things?」

「C’mon, it ain’t scary, y’all.」

Intimidated by Makoto, Hiroshi muttered as he began to temper the shape of the mass of metal into a longsword. He initially had a sulky expression on his face, but after beginning work, that expression gradually became tightened. Each swing of the hammer built more and more character into the lump of steel, morphing it into a peerless weapon.

「Here’s the first one. I need to look at the balance, so lightly swing it for me.」

「Yes, yes.」

Even without checking the balance or whatever, it was pretty clear from the battles up till now that she would be able to easily and accurately control her centre of gravity. As she thought about all this, Makoto mimicked Haruna’s example and lightly traced it. As expected, Makoto could tell that this was the most suitable centre of gravity for her, with everything perfectly working together. After lightly swinging it, she felt that the foundation specs were 3 ranks lower than that of the equipment found in Purgatory, but even 3 ranks below was unbelievably well made for someone who was just casually working on it. She decided not to dwell on it.

「Right, there’s no way any weapon you make would have balance issues by this point.」

「I dunno. Next one I’m gonna make is somethin’ ya never seen, Makoto-san.」

「What?　……No way!」

Not listening to a single word Makoto was saying, Hiroshi hammered out the heatened black sand steel to about 5 millimetres density. Then he began breaking the stretched steel into 2 centimetre-thick pieces, carefully selecting several kilos of good quality ones. Hiroshi heated up the small-sliced ingredients and boiled them, making them into one mass before hammering it out thinly. He hammered it flat and then folded it up into layers, repeating the process of hitting and folding.

Seeing that it had become a good-quality material after about 20 folds, Hiroshi got to making the other metal pole. He re-purified the remaining mass, messed with its composition, and then began to construct a very solid and sticky metal. Once he had smoothed it out to a minimum level, Hiroshi wrapped the steel he had initially forged with the metal he had just made.

「Is there a difference between that metal and the metal you first worked on?」

「The first metal by itself would fold or break with an impact, so I gotta attach a soft ‘n sticky metal in order to evade the impact.」

As he answered Tatsuya’s question, Hiroshi overlapped both metals with heat, combining each of their qualities into one, then began using a mallet to shape the body into that of a katana. After organizing the shape with the mallet and a file, he coated the surface with a dirt-like substance, heating it up again and then quenching it. After he corrected the warp and curvature of the now-baked sword, he polished it up and checked its condition. Hiroshi tailored his signature into the sword with the file, completing a splendidly-rippled, beautiful katana with a length somewhere between a wakibara and an odachi. Hiroshi had periodically muttered a chant while scattering unidentified powder, which was probably his way of enchanting the weapon.

There were in fact several processes that would seem odd for normal smithing, but not only were the raw materials different; magic, a process that did not exist in the real world. Even if the general flow of the base was the same, it was of course reasonable to expect these fairly crucial details to not match. Magic steel would only differ in a minor way, but with higher-class materials, by-the-book forging methods would not make proper weapons no matter how skilled the person. The raw materials in this world just became more and more peculiar with their attributes the further up you went.

「Well, it ain’t exactly a bewitched sword, but it’s got perfectly fine practical use range.」

「……」

「I didn’t know that katanas took so much effort to prepare.」

「Yup. It ain’t the world’s strongest art for nothin’.」

Makoto paid no attention to the ongoing conversation, taking the completed katana in her hands with a fascinated look in her eyes. She took plenty of distance away from the gallery and equipment, timidly swinging the weapon as if trying to use a long unused move. In response to Makoto’s movement, the katana traced a flawless orbit. Right at that moment, no, as soon as she had taken that katana in her hands, Makoto experienced the sensation of something incomplete being filled.

「What about the balance, mate?」

Completely ignoring Hiroshi’s question, Makoto continuously swung the katana as if she were possessed. The ideal balance. The ideal length. And then there was a glimpse of the cutting ability and the toughness befitting of a bewitched sword that she never knew she wanted. The quality of material was not generally what you would consider to be literal black sand, but this was irrelevant. This was unmistakeably a katana. It was the item that Makoto had treated as half her body in the game, polishing her skills and climbing to the top before reaching a setback, unable to find the companion that would become an extension of her arms and legs. Now she could walk that path again.

（That means this time, this time for sure, I will be able to use……）

There was an NPC that Makoto had once met in the game. She had studied under him and he had hammered the secrets of the discipline into her, which included a string of techniques. Unable to find the proper katana to withstand these secret techniques, Makoto had never once been able to truly exert them. As of right now, Makoto was rusty as a katana user and could not invoke the techniques, let alone reach the setup stage. Indeed, when you considered how it wouldn’t reach the level of Purgatory equipment, this katana might still not be sufficient. Still…

「Yeah. I’m ready.」

Once again, she found the courage within her to bet everything on one strike with this katana.

「I dunno what ya mean by ready, but that’s good.」

「Hiroshi, this might end up being another tall order, but I want you to be here during this.」

「A craftsman always grants the wishes of his clients, mate.」

Although it all started in a game, this was how Makoto at last returned to the path she had once aimed for.