abcnovels
Chapter 44
Chapter 44
44
Now, it’s Sunday afternoon. It has been a week since the second batch came.
I spend the morning in the library doing homework and reading books. In the courtyard I poured myself some herb tea and had some elegant time. I laughed when I found that doing homework increased my «Linguistics». I guess anything goes as long as its text.
Ummm… ohh, here it is. Primula-san’s store. She finally purchased one. When I contacted her she said she is in her store and told me its location.
As expected of the afternoon, when I entered the store there were several customers checking wares all over. At the store’s counter there was a clerk.
I head to the counter first.
“Is Primula-san in the workshop?”
“Yes. Can I ask your name?”
“I’m Anastasia.”
“Please wait a moment.”
It appears that he heard that I would be coming. While he went to call her, let’s take a look around the store.
On the wall there were wares starting with materials, staves and wands, as well as bows of various designs. There were also wooden instruments. The interior itself however, was very simple.
After a while, Primula-san came over carrying a small cask.
“Yahoo!”
“Is the store going well?”
“Yup yup. I can focus mostly on crafting thanks to being able to hire a clerk~.”
Apparently, she invested all her money into the crafting facilities, which is why the store part is so untouched. That is the reason why it’s so simple. For the time being, she made the shelves in a hurry by herself and placed them all over.
“In the back I have a facility for testing new goods~. It was really expensive… With that said, if I bought a cheap one, it would decrease merchandises’ durability, so there would be no point in trying them out, right?”
“So you can preview the equipment? Sounds nice.”
“Right~? Staves and wands are one thing, but you do want this for bows~.”
While saying so, she put a small cask on the counter. It’s a simple, easy to carry, and pretty cute cask isn’t it. It was designed like a wine cask and had a faucet included. The material used for it was White Oak. She showed me the inside and it was black, so it must have been heat-treated.
“It’s a prototype of a cask for fermenting wine. For now, I confirmed that it doesn’t leak~.”
Then next - *TA-DAH*~! - a large cask and a wooden bucket were placed on the counter.
“For now, I made these without any problems, but I did not try them so it’s unknown how quality affects the results.”
“Speaking of which, if you could make me a stick for mixing and an inner lid.”
“Ohh, right.”
I continued to talk with Primula-san on the various usage of the cask and the tub. With that said, it was mostly about what wood to use and what size to make it, and about the lids.
“Let’s see… I want two small wooden buckets, a stick for mixing and two mini casks.”
“You’re going to use small tubs?”
“I found several types of grapes in the third area.”
“I did medium toasting on them, so they should be fit for most things, but… they are prototypes so I can’t guarantee anything, you know?”
“There is no problem. I haven’t made wine before either, and I am underage so I can’t drink it. I just want to try making some.”
“Nnn… what about the crucial price?”
“The prices were 100k, 120k and 150k depending on size. There was no mini size however.”
After discussing the capacity of the casks the residents sell, we decided on the same price as that of NPC products. Considering that the crafted one is of higher quality, it’s profit on my side. The wooden buckets cost from 40k to 100k. I bought two small casks for 60k each and two mini for 40k, everything totalling to 200k.
By the way, mini casks have a capacity of about 4 liters, while small casks have about 250 liters. Personally, they look like beer servers to me. I have a special stand so that they don’t roll when I put them on the side. On top of the casks are plugged holes and on them there are lids for filling the cask. Apparently Primula-san made them basing on drink servers.
“I guess I will make these on order~?”
“Then I will contact you if I need more.”
I will use the mini one for wine, and the middle cask for soy sauce and miso.
“I do want a funnel and some cloth for filtering...”
“What was “funnel” again?”
“I mean… the tool for pouring fluids to bottles… is that clear enough?”
“Ahh, that. Do I make one with wood? Or does it have to be glass?”
Nnn… ohh, there is a glass funnel among alchemy recipes. Let’s make one myself. And I can have Dantel-san make some cloth for me.
Let’s contact Dantel-san and make a request.
“For now you can have the two I made. I will make another two and a mixing stick now, I should get it done right away.”
“Then I will go South to gather materials for glass before going to the union and withdrawing money.”
“Roo~geer~.”
I leave Primula-san’s store and through the statue in the central square I move to Inbamunt in the South. Next I head to the coast in the South and place an Alchemy kit on the beach. After placing a refining circle expansion core on top of the cloth, I take out a shovel and start piling up sand on top of it.
I extract silica sand and limestone from the sea sand, extract limestone from shells and corals. Then with silica sand I make silica, before synthesizing silica and limestone to make glass.
Moving the Refining Circle Expansion Core is a little of a pain… It’s a problem caused by the fact that it is used by various Alchemy’s Arts. Every time I change the cloth I need to re-place it.
When I tried to stay more conscious of how I pour magic power, I certainly was able to make glass of higher quality than C. Well, it’s not like the quality of a funnel matters… is how it feels. There probably will be no distortions with C quality one.
Next I use glass to make a funnel. Let’s make small, medium and big ones.
?«Alchemycraft» reached level 15.?
?«Alchemycraft»’s Art?Magic Stone Refining?was acquired.?
?Magic Stone Refining?
Changes Magic Stones to either their higher or lower version.
Hmmm? By higher or lower version, it must mean the size. So I can merge magic stones with each other to make a bigger one. It also sounds pretty useful to make several small ones from a big one. Let’s try it.
At hand I have… 10 Tiny ones and 4 Small ones. Let’s see… To make the higher version I need three? Three Small ones for one Medium one. And downsizing it gives me one Small one and two Tiny ones. If I changed all of them upwards, I would get one Small and two Medium ones.
To conclude - it’s a good thing to have a method of acquiring various magic stones with means other than having them drop. The problem is that recently I have been absorbing bodies for Capacity, so there haven’t been many dropping recently.
What I need them for now is… a Huge one for Refining Circle Expansion Core? I have a single Large one, looks like… I need two more? This is the general’s Magic Stone that I used?Magic Stone Processing?on, right. I think that stones of this class can’t be found on consignment yet, can they? When I’m done with what I do now, let’s go take a look.
Inbamunt’s union is most likely less crowded, it should be easier to withdraw my money there. I confirm the consignment while at it. ...There are no Huge or Large stones after all. Orbs can’t be used for?Magic Stone Refining?, so I can’t make one either.
I jump to the First Town and head straight to Primula-san’s store.
“Owner will come once it’s done, so please wait a moment.”
“I understand.”
The Resident clerk said, so I started exploring the store.
Bows aside, I am curious about the Magic Catalysts. Would this rapier of mine have an increased effect if I take «Magic Catalyst»?
Magic Catalyst refers to item types such as wands, staves, books and crystal balls - in case of Woodcrafting it refers to wands and staff types. The bonuses applied by Magic Catalysts are increased Magic Attack Power and Channeling Speed Increase. Some of the better ones apparently will decrease MP required for casting spells, but there are none such so far.
The most expensive staff is… this B+ one? Let’s try it. I speak with the clerk and move to the shooting range.
Walking through a door in the store, I move to a courtyard-like area.
The image it gives off, is that of a shooting range? In the back there are several targets, and on the ground all the way to the targets there are lines every 10 meters, with 200 meters of range to the target in total. It must be to allow everyone to try it at the range they are comfortable with. Also, this area is in a subspace isn’t it?
A single Elf woman was holding a bow inside.
An arrow enveloped by red light was released diagonally upwards and disappeared. When I returned my gaze to the woman, she had already nocked another arrow which shone red just like the previous one. Looks like she is using a charged-type Art. The light had increased in intensity by a stage and was released along with an unnaturally loud sound. The arrow which turned about twice as big, shot straight towards the target instead of drawing an arc. Then, another arrow had fallen diagonally from above, piercing the target at the same time.
I see. A simultaneous attack which uses the time delay of each arrow to reach the target. Although this could be called an obvious tactic for an experienced player, her execution is splendid.
I approach and try myself.
As usual, there is no damage amount displayed, but the target’s HP bar has decreased by very fine amounts.
Well then, let’s try attacking with my rapier and with the staff.
The difference is almost… no, it’s losing? Although the displayed MATK is higher, the other one has a magic attack power increase which makes it lose.
First of all, this rapier deals physical damage based on DEX and SPI, and magical damage based on INT. In which case, how is the item stat comparison handling it? Does it base on the weapon alone, or maybe it includes my own stats into the equation…?
Well, the staff is already stronger at this point. The difference in the amount of HP bar decreased is mere 1cm, on the level of measurement error, but the future will be dark for me if I can’t enhance the rapier. Considering that it does not have durability and the things it allows me to do, there is no need to change it...
“Sorry for the wait, Princess~!”
“Ahh, Primula-san. Did you make it?”
“I did~. Oh? Yahoo, Mead-san~.”
“Yes, hello there.”
So the Elf woman using the shooting range was Mead-san. If I am not wrong, she is the top player among archers. She did receive a prize during the combat tournament, didn’t she?
“Princess, you’re just as rumored. Let’s get along.”
“You too are famous, Mead-san. Please take care of me.”
“You two weren’t acquainted yet?”
“Although I did see Mead-san before, this is the first time we spoke with each other.”
“I only know Princess from the combat tournament and the board, so I did know the name.”
“I see, I see. Speaking of which, Princess, you went to the third area didn’t you?”
“I did go East with Alf-san and Ske-san.”
“Were there trees?”
“North and South were indeed forests.”
“Hmm...”
Mead-san is a very calm person, isn’t she. Still, she kind of feels like a warrior?
It appears that Mead-san is a regular customer here. She collects trees and carries them to Primula-san for processing. To Primula-san it is an important source of materials. And since Mead-san needs to have bows and arrows made, they both profit from that.
“I’ll go trade with Princess then.”
“Yes. If there is an opportunity, let’s meet again.”
I register Mead-san as a friend, then together with Primula-san we move to the store part.
“Speaking of which, mead… honey wine was it? I think it was simple to make, was it not?”
“Is that so?”
“I do have honey, let’s investigate and try making some.”
For now, let’s trade. The remaining goods I buy are a mini cask and wooden bucket, as well as a mixing stick.
[Tool] Storage Cask (Mini)?Rarity: No?Quality: B+?Price: 40k
A cask for fermenting, aging food products. The effect depends on the inserted content.?
[Tool] Storage Bucket (Small)?Rarity: No?Quality: B+?Price: 60k
A bucket for fermenting, aging food products. The effect depends on the inserted content.?
[Tool] Mixing Stick?Rarity: No?Quality: B+?Price: 1000
A long stick for mixing.
[Tool] White Oak Inner Lid?Rarity: No?Quality: B+?Price: 2000
An inner lid made with White Oak.
The wooden bucket and mini cask, two inner lids and a single stick. The small wooden bucket can store up to 6l. The mini cask was a drink server type, but it appears the item type itself did not change and was treated as a storage cask.
“Thanks again! By the way, Princess, do you have bird feathers maybe?”
“I have Tokkei feathers if you like.”
“How about 100 each?”
“Let’s see… I’ll sell 400 of them.”
“You got that many?!”
“I used up some when I was raising my «Alchemycraft», but I plucked a lot of them when I was hunting for meat.”
“Chicken meat, mmm? Here, 40k.”
“Everything matches. Now, I’ll be off to Dantel-san’s store.”
“See ya~. So, let’s replenish arrows...”
I leave Primula-san’s store and enter the store of which location I heard when I ordered cloth for filtering. With that said, it was in front Primula-san’s store, a little to the right. A store with a glass front, isn’t it.
Behind the glass there was a wooden mannequin facing the outside, wearing clothes. It’s a clothier’s store, after all. There were no leather armors, however.
“Hey, you came.”
“Did you make it yet?”
“Of course. I mean, it’s just a square piece of cloth.”
I purchase square filtering cloth from Dantel-san. Cost: 5000. I requested several of them of various sizes.
“What are you making?”
“Soy sauce and miso, also wine.”
“Hooh! You going to sell wine?”
“I wonder? I can’t drink it, but I can use it for cooking.”
“Ahh, I see...”
“Well, regardless of what I do with it, I will need adults to try it for me so...”
“Oh, leave it to me.”
Does Dantel-san love wine? Or does he just like drinking?
“Oh right, do you know maybe how to make mead?”
“To make mead you only need to dilute honey with water and leave it be. I think it was diluting honey with two, three times the water.”
“I see, let’s prepare some mead then.”
“How about making, uh, fruit wine? It’s easy… oh, no. There is no white liquor.”
Let’s research some. Umm, white liquor, meaning… I see now, so alcohol like vodka is required. Hnn… nnn?
“It feels like there should be some out there.”
“You mean white liquor?”
“I purchased brandy from Residents before, so I guess there should be?”
“Hooh...”
“Well, first let’s make wine and mead. Then soy sauce and miso after that.”
“Sure, do your best!”
I leave Dantel-san’s store and jump to the third area’s town, Barberg. I need to purchase the necessary things.
First, research. ...Ah, this should work. Hmm-mmm… let’s make rosé wine. The problem is… the grape names I saw yesterday are completely different from ones in real. Are they game-specific species? The storekeepers do not seem to know too much.
Grapes… grapes… must be that store? ...I see, no clue.
“I want to make wine, which black grapes should I use for short fermentation?”
“Black for short fermentation… you can use these Farshnelli, Clakshi, Berge. Farshnelli are good for making light, normal and heavy wine.”
“Which of these is the most sweet one?”
“That would be Farshnelli. It’s a subspecies created in this town.”
“Then I will have that, the amount… it’s my first time making wine, so I will have about this many.”
“My, what a cute bucket. Fars are easy to make wine with, so I recommend them. As for the amount, that would be...”
I purchased grapes of Farshnelli-Berg type. They cost me 5000 in total, but that can’t be helped. I leave the store and let’s get to work right away.
In the shade on the center square I open up the Cooking Kit. I take out the mini cask… and first add water to make the wood expand… there. After inserting water, it gradually stopped seeping through and the cask turned into a usable state. I wash it a few times and put it aside.
Then, I take out a fresh empty bin I haven’t used for making pickles or bread, and after separating grapes from each other, I put them inside. I crush and squeeze them together. I squeeze and filter the juices into empty bins, using all the empty bins I had. From there, I put lids on the bins to let them ferment.
Finally, I use?Clean?on the used bins to make them clean. ...Inside the cleaned bins I put in B-quality water and honey, then mix them together. I put the filtering cloth over it and leave it be. Inside a new potion bottle I put B quality water and fairy honey, then shake it and leave it be.
I fast-forward time, and watching the three bins, I note the progress.
There are multiple ways to make pink-colored wine called Rosé, I first crush the black grapes and filter the juices. In other words “Since you use black grapes, red color slightly colors the wine and it eventually turns pink~”. In order to make it into pretty pink color, it’s necessary to measure time during every step and repeat them multiple times.
First of all, considering that these grapes are a special breed from another world, it’s hard to say whether this method will work. It is a game, so it might be easier instead, too.
Wine-making, even the short fermentation method can take years to finish it… I wonder how it will work.
Watching it bubble and froth, I mixed it when the sediment settled down.
Looks like the bubbliness inside the potion bin’s honey mixture has disappeared. There isn’t much of it, so it did not take much time. Let’s move the liquid to another potion bin and leave the yeast sediment inside. This one is finished for now.
Continuously noting down the fast-forwarded time, I stare at the bins. Notes are important, you know? Even if I remember everything now, I will definitely forget the details so it’s best to note them down while I can.
It’s a good thing that this process can be done at room temperature. I only sometimes cool it down with?Cool?.
The yeast is still breathing, so it will take plenty more time.
As for wine… in order to set a standard, let’s make it dry. It seems like I can have the yeast eat up all the sugar, so I do complete fermentation.
The bubbling of wine disappeared first, so I noted down the time it took. I move it to a mini cask to start aging it.
Fermenting the honey took more time than wine. Just like the one in the potion bin, I leave the yeast inside the bin and slowly move the rest.
Although mead is complete, let’s let both rest for now.
We are in a game, so temperature in general is pretty stable. It makes the temperature control pretty easy. The biggest problem is that leaving it inside my inventory makes the item’s time stop, so there is no point in doing that. With that said, I can’t carry it around in my hands.
Although it’s annoying, it’s best to note down the time I have the cask out of inventory...
Soy sauce and miso… what should I do about those? There is a big problem called “malt”. Soya beans themselves are cheap, so I can only try making some without malt… If it works then I’m lucky, if it goes bad… it will be time to search for malt.
I hath pulled out a large pot! Soya beans! Salt! Now, let’s begin. First goes miso.
Since soya beans are a number of uses-based items, I take plenty and wash them. Yes, with?Clean?. Next, I pour a large amount of water and let the beans soak. Fast-forward time, about one whole day. They absorbed water and expanded plenty.
Umm, next is… put the beans inside a large pot. Put just enough water to soak them a little and cook on low flame for about three hours, take out scum during that. ...In order to let the heat go deep inside after it starts seething, I need to add more water. Let’s prepare.
I fast-forward the time while taking out the scum, also noting down the time everything takes. Naturally, I put the mini cask and the mead bins in the shadow on the opposite side of the heat source.
I take out the thoroughly-cooked soya beans and crush them. It says that crushing them between the thumb and index finger is just enough. I don’t know whether they took my race into consideration, however.
…#1, we’re crushing beans. Thankfully burns don’t have much to do with us!
Mmh, I don’t have a bin to mix everything with salt. #1, continue crushing.
Umm… make it about the size of an earlobe or a little finger and harden, mix the malt with salt while kneading it...
I gather the beans that #1 crushes and I make multiple chunks. I don’t have malt, after all.
Next, I take the salted soy bean dumplings and stuff them in the wooden bucket I bought from Primula-san. ...It’s nice and full. Next is, um… a filtering cloth will work. I cover it with cloth and put on the inner lid… ah, there is no stone to put weight on. Will I find a weight stone-like thing in the North? Let’s put away the Cooking Kit for now and move.
Oh? The mini cask and mead, as well as the bucket for making miso were stored together. It appears there is no problem, very well.
I jump through the portal to Vershtead and re-summon #1 changing him from a metaskelly into a horse. After walking out of the town, I have him gallop and we search for two stones of fitting size.
Enemies in the North are all slow, so I can ignore them all as long as I ride on #1.
I found about three stones as we ran around. Let’s use?Clean?and put them in the inventory.
?«Spatial Magic» reached level 15.?
?«Spatial Magic»’s?Raum Sphere?was acquired.?
?Raum Sphere?
Creates an invisible shield in all directions around you, negating ranged attacks.
Ahhh… this, it’s an all-directions version of?Raum Escude?which creates a shield in front of the caster. It must use even more MP than escude, but that aside I think it’s not bad.
The problem is that when I’m using?Inventory Expansion?, I don’t have enough MP to cast it, making it troublesome to use. There is no difference in the amount of MP used, so… it’s 10% less MP used for every 10 levels. It uses 70% now, so at level 20 it will be 60%.
There are no direct attack spells at this point, so in order to level spatial magic?Inventory Expansion?is pretty useful.
Well, let’s leave «Spatial Magic» and get back to miso. Back we go.
I get off #1 in the central square and in the corner of it I open the Cooking Kit. Right away I put the stone on top of the inner lid. Avoid the direct light, it’s best to avoid the changes in temperature, it says. With that said, it only says “it’s best to” and ultimately can be put anywhere.... The rest time is one year… no, about ten months should work.
After putting away the Cooking Kit, I check the weather board… Umm, the highest temperature is… in the South. However, there is salty wind there… In which case, it will be East after all. It seems that there is plenty of rain in the West. That would be troublesome. The coldest is in the North.
East for Miso, North for Wine? ...Let’s go back East.
I return to Barberg and praying that it does not rot, I fast-forward with?Reaction Acceleration?. There is no need to mix anything, it’s pretty easy. I wait for my MP to recover and push it forward. In about three months it started to look somewhat like the finished product, I check it every thirty days.
Feels like it did… not rot? Seems like it might work - and so, do your best for another sixty days.
Although my level, skill level and max MP increased,?Reaction Acceleration?still consumes a lot of MP. It recovers too fast for me to do other things while waiting, but just waiting for recovery and fast-forwarding is really boring.
In the safety zone HP and MP recovers 30% every 5 seconds, so recovery is very fast in the safety zone. It’s this way in towns and safety zones outside.
When I use it again while the clock above the bucket is still visible, I can extend the time without using it again. One use is one day, so it’s easy to count the number of uses. Sixty uses.
After using it time after time, I wait for the fast-forward to end. When the clock disappears I remove the stone, inner lid and the cloth. Ohhh… it’s gotten brownish. It’s 90 days fermented miso. I clean the cloth and cover it again. Put on the inner lid and stone again, there is seven months remaining, so I multiply 7 times 3 for 210 uses.
Although I say months, it is a mystery how things work in game so I do not think of calendar days. One day in real life is four days in-game. I don’t think they would change the setting from reality too much, so a 1 week is 4 days, and 1 month is either 7 weeks for 28 days a month, or 8 weeks for 32 days a month. Should I ask Megan-san about it the next time I meet her?
Between wine and miso, I take miso~. I want to make miso soup, but… ahh, there is no tofu. What’s necessary is… nigari… nigari, hm? Let’s investigate while fast-forwarding.
Put soya beans in the mixer… I have no mixer. Nigari is the remaining water after extracting salt from the seawater? Seems like nigari is an «Alchemycraft» case. The problem is getting a mixer. We once again face a problem with tools rather than ingredients… There is a need to search for a higher version of a Cooking Kit.
Rather, I was so focused on ingredients that I did not look for the crucial kit. It wasn’t in the second area, so it feels like it should be here in the third area. Let’s look for it once miso is done.
While watching the clock finish 210 days worth of fast-forwarding, I start to fast-forward wine. I confirm the clock on top of the wooden bucket disappears and remove the three items covering it.
[Ingredient] Mature Miso?Rarity: Ep?Quality: ?
An ingredient made with soya beans using a recipe brought by Outsiders. Used for many things.
Matured for 300 days.
Ohhh… it succeeded!
An ingredient made with soya beans using a recipe brought by Outsiders. I see, so the rarity is Epic. So until it’s mass-produced the rarity will be high… is what it means?
For now I put it away, let’s search for a kit. I guess the aim is the store that had the storage items?
“Welcome.”
“Do you have a higher version of a Cooking Kit?”
“We still do~.”
What does she mean by “still do”…? No, items can get out of stock, so it isn’t that strange.
“But, do you have enough money~?”
[Tool] Mid-Tier Cooking Kit?Rarity: Ra?Quality: ??Price: 500k
A portable cooking set with tools for a cook.
Oh, a Mid-Tier Cooking Ki… EXPENSSSSIIIIVE?!
“Your face… you turned straight-faced~.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. It was more expensive than I expected, so I will go withdraw money.”
“Then I will keep it here~.”
“Please do.”
It’s a painful expense, but there is no choice but to buy it. It’s closer to the Adventurers’ Union from there. I withdraw money at the reception and return to the store. I have 3.6m remaining. It is about time I will need to put food on consignment to sell...
“Sorry for the wait.”
“Thanks again~.”
“Is there a reason the price suddenly went up so much?”
“It’s because there are multiple magic tools, and the overall quality has increased~.”
“I see, magic tools, is it.”
“They are useful, but expensive in exchange~.”
“I will take my leave then.”
“Come again~.”
I leave the store and combine the kits right away. Before confirming, I go South to Inbamunt to collect seawater. From there, I extract salt with alchemy. Like this, I acquire high quality salt and nigari.
Speaking of which, should I change to using this salt from now on? I started to extract salt diligently to acquire a fair amount and secured a large bin of nigari.
Now… it is already late, let’s have dinner.