「I’ll use the Rod of Offerings, and we need to keep using the Spear with 「Chant Interruption」as well. It’s a little bit of a waste, but I’ll have to put this away for now.」
「That’s right. Miria wouldn’t be able to use it as good as the one handed sword, and it wouldn’t be suitable for me as well due to the change in the distance from enemies.」
It seems that Roxanne and Miria can’t use it either.
「We don’t need「Chant Interruption」if our opponents are the Clam Shells, but we’re definitely going to need it for the Kettle Mermaids and Bitch Butterflies. It’s going to be an incredible shame, but we’ll have no choice but to put the Holy Spear away for now.」
I could give both Spears to Sherry, and have her drop the one she doesn’t need, but that seems like it would be a bit difficult to execute, so as regrettable as it sounds, I am afraid that we have no choice but to really put the Holy Spear away for the time being. As such, I quietly put the Holy Spear away into the safety of my Item Box.
We then took some time to hunt and confirm the comfort of using the Holy Spear whenever we managed to find the right opportunity to do so, we returned back home to have breakfast, after which I went to the Merchants Guild next. Because I’m not directly acquainted with that Weapons Merchant, I have to call for Luke. The two of them come over to me shortly after.
「Ah, I have been waiting for you. Well then, shall we head over to the Guild Temple?」
「Guild Temple?」
「Yes. It was late yesterday but if the broker is registered, the temple can be used for the purpose of item verification.」
The Weapons Merchant says. I already have an idea what a Temple is what is its purpose, but what exactly are we going to be verifying? The Skill Crystals? I am capable of doing that since I have my handy Bonus Skill, 「Identify.」, but generally, normal people use the Guild Temple for this purpose.
The guild temple can be used for verification, or so I heard. The reason as to why we couldn’t complete the transaction yesterday was not because he didn’t have the Skill Crystals, but probably because it was already evening and it was too late for us to go there.
There’s a chance for the 「Skill Crystal Fusion」to fail, resulting in the loss of the Skill Crystals involved in the fusion process without any hopes of getting them back whatsoever.
The fusion may fail because of a counterfeit Skill Crystals being involved in the process, or for other, completely unrelated reasons. However, it’s difficult to distinguish whether the fusion failed because of a counterfeit Skill Crystal or not, so is it a natural thing to do to check their authenticity in the Guild Temple? I can use 「Identify」though, so that is not necessary for me.
First of all, I know that the fusions of Skill Crystals that Sherry is going to be performing for me will always succeed. But since it is the first time when me and that guy are making a transaction, then perhaps he thought that it would be prudent of him to not neglect the duty of having the items that he’d be selling to me verified.
We go upstairs, to the backrooms on the second floor. The Guild Temple seems to be located here. To be more specific, it is located at the very end of the room that serves as the auction hall. That reminds me, he said earlier that the verification during the auction takes place backstage. So it is really here?
「Here it is. One usage of the identification service costs one hundred Nars. Because there are two Skill Crystals to be verified, it’ll cost two hundred Nars instead. The principle is for the buying side to bear the cost. I’ll be the one operating it as only the registered brokers can use the Guild Temple and its facilities.」
「I just bought a Kobold Skill Crystal, Sherry. Can you please fuse it for me?」
「Yes, of course.」
Because I have only just bought it, there can be no mistake about it. Is that why Sherry doesn’t show an uneasy expression when I ask her to perform 「Skill Crystal Fusion」for me this time?
「Ooh, as expected of Sherry.」
「Thank you very much.」
The fusion was a success, of course.
Wind Resistant Damascus Steel Forehead Protector: Head EquipmentSkills: Wind Resistance, Empty, Empty, Empty
Three Skill Slots of it are still empty. I put the forehead protector on Roxanne’s head.
「This will be Roxanne’s.」
「Are you sure about this, master?」
「Yes, it’s fine. I want you to wear it.」
「Thank you very much then.」
If there is ever going to be the need for me to go to the frontlines, I can always borrowed a Strengthened Hardened Leather Helmet from Miria. Because you have to fasten a forehead protector like a headband, you can’t just put it on like a helmet, which is bothersome.
Even before the fusion, it was mostly Roxanne who was using it. Unlike the helmet, it doesn’t cover her dog ears which I’m uneasy about since they can be her potential weak point, but maybe it’s going to be all right after all since Roxanne doesn’t get hit by the monsters’ attacks almost ever.
We gear up and enter the Labyrinth. Shortly after entering it, we reach the Boss Room of the seventeenth floor of Haruba’s Labyrinth. Our exploration of this floor seemed to have advanced considerably.
「The Floor Boss variant of a Kettle Mermaid is called Bottle Mermaid. Because it shoots powerful Water Magic, it’s important to interrupt the magic circles forming beneath its body as soon as they appear, or else we might be finding ourselves in big trouble.」