CH 30

Chapter 30 – I’m sure he’ll want it, this Bucket

Since I was pretty used to making Magical Formations by now, there were no failures on any of the Magic Circles that I’ve tried making so far. The new one is no exception.

However, it is troublesome that the number of uses is so small. It can’t be helped since the durability of the Magic Paper is low though.

Moreover, since the materials involved in the creation of Magic Paper all have no durability, I can’t really choose something with higher durability to try making it have an overall higher quality.

There were some ideas during the beta that one could try making Magical Formations by using a different product altogether though. People tried to make Magical Formations on Shields instead of in Magic Paper mainly… Sadly, it all ended up in failure. Things just didn’t work out, no matter if they tried using the Magic Pen on the shield, or if they tried to carve the Formations directly into it.

There were also attempts to try drawing or carving before using the ‘Complete Process’ function, but that too was a failure.

However… My skill level right now is much higher than what anyone got at the beta, so maybe things will go differently this time around? It doesn’t hurt to try. I do have the Crafting skill at lv 68 after all.

I also did make far more Magic Circles than anyone else, so I’m confident that I’m better at it than whoever tried it out in the beta.

Let’s see… The shape of the shield will be changed considerably after the ‘Complete Process’ function, so it’s better to try making it before using it. Let’s try carving it out.

Slowly, as I made a Large Bronze Shield, I carved a Magical Formation in it. I must have spent at least half an hour in this process, and ended up coming to a conclusion… This is no good.

I always got some sort of response from the system when Blacksmithing, Crafting or making Magical Formations. And I could feel my Mana being drained too as I made them, but… This time I felt nothing. And by the time I used the ‘Complete Process’ function, the shield wasn’t particularly special, it was just an overly decorated Bronze Shield. It wasn’t even an original.

Moreover, parts of the Magic Circle were actually changed after the ‘Complete Process’, so this doesn’t even look like any of the circles I know about anymore… I guess it’s just no good to try making Magical Formations on other materials.

I also tried making it on a normal paper just in case, but the result was also a failure. It only works on Magic Paper after all.

I wonder if there is any way around this though… There aren’t that many people involved with the craft of Magical Formations, so the amount of information available is small. Perhaps we need to find some other type of magical material to make it work? It’s probably the best bet for now.

Though maybe it was just that my Crafting level was still too low. Maybe I need to first get the evolved Crafting skill before I can try making Magical Formations on things other than Magic Paper.

Well, that’s just theory for now. I have a store to manage, so I can’t spend all my time experimenting and enjoying the creation of Magical Formations… Let’s work hard!

******

After a while making products, I finally reached lv 100 in the Blacksmith skill! As that’s the maximum level, it means I can now evolve it!

According to the information available on the forums, there aren’t that many players who were able to evolve their skills, and I’m probably the first crafter to get to this point.

For the battle-focused players who did evolve their skills, they reported a noticeable increase in the damage of their weapons.

As for me, there seems to only be one evolution path available for Blacksmithing. It goes from lv 100 Blacksmithing to lv 1 Improved Blacksmithing. It’s about the same naming pattern as the skills from the other players.

The evolution also costs 20 Skill Points, but that wasn’t particularly troublesome to me, so I evolved it right away.

Also, the evolution immediately gave me the ‘Improved Extraction’ skill, so… Let’s try it out! Let’s make a Bronze Ingot and see how it goes!

—–

Bronze Ingot

Material/6*

——

The result was better than expected. Not only was it easier and faster than ever before to make them, but I also got a 6* ingot. I had just started being able to make 5* ingots, so having this sudden jump to 6* is very welcome.

Then maybe… I’m ready to make iron? I have been buying iron ores for a while now in order to have a stock ready for when my skill evolved, so this seems like the perfect opportunity. Let’s do this!

As I tried it out, I slowly and carefully worked on the iron ores, but it was pretty hard. Not as tough as the first time I made a bronze ingot, but about as hard as the first time I made a copper ingot.

——

Iron Ingot

Material/3*

——

It was barely passable. I worked really hard and was only able to get it good enough for 3* at the last minute.

… It’s probably too early to make equipment from this. If I try now, it will most likely end up as 2* or 1*.

In that case, it’s best if I continue working on bronze for a while longer. If it works in the same way as Copper and Bronze did, I’ll probably be able to reliably make 3* equipment after getting 20 or so skill levels… That said, the evolved skills take much longer to level up, so this will probably take a while.

But well, I do play a lot each day, and I do have a store too, so I don’t need to spend that much time obtaining materials, so I’m sure my growth rate will be good. Let’s keep on working hard!

******

As I made more gear, I came to realize how incredible the evolved skill was. Not only was I making products faster, but their quality was also visibly higher, and that goes to more than just the ingots.

Even if it’s a bit disappointing that I can’t make iron gear just yet, I still got…

——

Bronze Bucket Helm

Head/Heavy Equipment/6*/DEF +13; MDEF +18; ATK +4/Magic Defense Enhancement/Small Attack Enhancement/Durability 40

——

An item with two ‘Options’! Moreover, one of the effects isn’t ‘Small’! Taking the ‘Bronze Bucket Helm: Lily’ aside, I had never seen anything as good as this back when I only had the normal ‘Blacksmithing’ skill. Evolution is way too good!

Sadly, after more attempts, I found out that most of results ended up being 5*, and they didn’t always have ‘Options’ in them.

Though well, it’s amazing enough to get 5* regularly and sometimes 6* even. This is quite the amazing growth, even if not good enough for Iron yet.

For now, I should message some of my acquaintances. I’m sure Rush will want it, this Bucket Helm.