Chapter 110 – As expected, you’re quite something

Coming to think of it, one can also spend their money on the gambling system of enhancing their equipment with Magic Crystals. Though it’s fairly expensive and the results are far from guaranteed.

On another note, the only ways to sell items in Frontiers are to either go to stalls, stores, or to set up a quest at the Guild with the item as a reward.

There isn’t a practical commercial system that everyone can easily access like we see in other games.

If something like that was implemented, the need to own a shop would be greatly diminished though.

Or rather, if you one could buy and sell through a system that all players have easy access to, then there would be no reason to own a store and pay employees to manage it at all.

And well, there isn’t really any merit on the current store-reliant system for combat-focused player Pioneers. In fact, there is a high demand on the forums for a business system that allows them to easily buy and sell items right now.

Whether or not it will be implemented depends on the management team, but it would be quite troublesome for crafters who already own a store if such a system was implemented.

I mean, this kind of system is very practical alright, but it would also mean that the investments on stores would become completely worthless.

Maybe one day this kind of trade system will be implemented on Frontiers, but I hope that they’d give some compensation to store owners in that case. Perhaps they could let store owners sell more items than most or something, I’m not sure.

But well, this depends on the developers wishing to implement a different trade system on the game though.

In any case, the current system works perfectly fine for me, so I’m fine with it being left as is.

On a side note, the system that allowed us to send items to others by message was quietly deleted at some point.

Even then, it was only possible to use this system if we were both in safe areas anyways, so it’s not like it was very useful. At most I could have used it to make simple deliveries to acquaintances.

******

It was now morning in-game, so let’s go deliver the requested items.

Or well, let’s do it after going to the Guild and getting the items I made evaluated.

On the way there, I found a group of combat-focused player Pioneers talking about raids.

The event was at its final stage and everyone was quite enthusiastic about their last spurts.

In particular, obtaining Shadow Tears is very important for those who aim for the top spots.

… Though their price is still rising. I guess it won’t stop going up until the event ends.

In any case, after the items were evaluated, I took the carriage to the north gate, then went to dwarf’s workshop.

“Good afternoon.” I told him.

“Oh, welcome! What brings you here?

“Could you already be done!?” The blacksmith asked me.

“Yes!” I replied.

He was quite surprised that I delivered the items when there was this much time left before the deadline.

The five blacksmiths had already gotten used to me making early deliveries, so this didn’t surprise them anymore. I’m sure the same will happen to the dwarf blacksmith in due time.

“I see you’re as great as the rumors say.” He told me.

“Ah, it’s not that much…” I replied.

“I thought I’d ask you for deliveries a couple more times, but… Maybe you can do this.” The blacksmith muttered.

“Do this?” I asked.

“Bucket, this request I made was actually just a test. I heard rumors of you being a great crafter, but I couldn’t completely trust you until I saw it with my own eyes.

“If you feel uncomfortable with that, I apologize.

“However, I was convinced by these results. I can leave this to you.” The dwarf told me.

“Uhn…” I didn’t know how to reply.

“For now, don’t worry about it and just look at this.” He then showed me a material.

“This is…?” I asked.

The dwarf seemed to be pretty busy with convincing himself of something and then apologizing for something that didn’t need an apology, but let’s not mind that and focus on the thing he put on the desk.

“Sacred Silver Ore. It was found in a large vein deep within Dotril Silver Mine.” He told me.

“There are people who went that far already?” I was surprised.

This was an unknown material that not only had I never seen before, but it was also a material that nobody talked about in the forums yet.

As far as I know, no player Pioneers has reached the depths of Dotril Silver Mine yet. Mainly because almost all top combat-focused Pioneer are putting their entire focus on the event, so… How did this happen?

“This was found by people hired by country. Don’t ask why such a precious thing is here.

“The problem is processing this material.” The dwarf explained.

So, this was obtained by NPC Pioneers? I thought they were primarily focused on handling the abnormal event mobs, but I guess they also checked the Dotril Silver Mine out.

I was told not to ask, but I have to wonder why such a valuable country-owned material is here.

This dwarf said the first request was a test, so… Could he actually be a pretty important person?

“So, you want me to handle it?” I asked.

“That’s right. I’ll provide the necessary recipes and facilities for you. This should be possible with your current skills.

“Would you like to try it?” He asked me.

“Well, I have some questions first…” I replied.

Much sooner than I expected, he was already going to give me a new NPC quest, but I have some things I need to be sure about before taking it.

Like, this Sacred Silver Ore is undoubtedly a very valuable material, so… What happens if I fail at processing it?

How many Sacred Silver Ores does he have?

What are the facilities and recipes provided?

How long is the deadline?

And what about the rewards? The reward column for this quest seems blank for some reason, so… Is there no reward?

“Finally, what about the rewards?” I asked.

“I’ll tell you about it later if you accept it. All I can promise you for now is that I will make it worth your while.” The dwarf replied.

“Is that so…?” I muttered.

He answered most of my questions without hesitation, but it seems like he doesn’t want to talk about the reward yet.

This makes me hesitate a bit, but… I still want to take this quest.

Or rather, I will take it.

After all, it’s my first time seeing this material. I want to try handling it!

He also said that he will overlook failure to some extent and that there is a decent amount of Sacred Silver Ores.

I can’t fail too much, but it’s okay for me to try accomplishing this task a fair number of times.

Though if I fail too much, the quest will end. It won’t be treated as a quest failure, but I will get no reward.

Then, there are no disadvantages in accepting it, so I want to take it.

Also, it won’t take much time to finish the quest, and the deadline for it is quite long.

In theory I should be able to do it immediately in fact, but if I fail after trying once, I’d like to take some time to raise my skill levels before attempting it once again.

“Okay, I’ll accept it!” I told him.

“Alright! Then this is the recipe, and the facilities are over there.” The dwarf started various things to me.

Like the very important reward! He’ll give me Advanced Tool Recipes!

Moreover, if the rank of the final item is high, then I’ll even be allowed to get multiple recipes, so I want to do my best!

Also, all of his facilities are of advanced-tier, and so are his tools.

With this quest I’ll be able to skip the Improved Intermediate Tool tier and go to the Advanced tier right away, isn’t that great?

It’s really hard to get tool recipes, so this is a wonderful opportunity.

And it’s something I would have never known about if I didn’t accept the quest… I didn’t even hear about it from Mukaida, so… Maybe he didn’t know about it either?

“If you think you can handle this recipe, then why don’t you try it now?” The dwarf asked me.

“Alright, I’ll try it!” I replied.

I can’t be enamored by the rewards yet. I didn’t finish the request, after all.

After looking at the recipe and the amount of intermediate-tier materials required, I can assume that the Sacred Silver Ore is at least on the same level as steel is.

And the production target is a Divine Goblet.

It’s a tableware, so it shouldn’t be too hard to make, which is a good thing, as I’m not entirely sure I’d be able to handle making gear just yet.

I mean, I do use an advanced facility all the time, but the same can’t be said for tools. Making the jump from Intermediate Tools to Advanced Tools might require a bit habituation.

I wonder how different they feel.

It’s two tiers ahead of what I currently own, so I’m expecting great results!

******

“As expected, you’re quite something.” The dwarf commented.

“No no, that’s just because of the tools…” I replied.

“Not at all. If you aren’t good enough, you wouldn’t be able to handle those tools in the first place.” He told me.

The intermediate-tier material produced was two ranks higher than my usual.

I could feel how great the tools were during the crafting process. As expected, tools of two tiers above give incredibly better results than the weaker ones.

Thanks to that, I was complimented by the dwarf blacksmith.

And well, I ended up making a higher-than-expected rank of intermediate material, so I think I should be able to make a great Divine Goblet.

Since it’s tableware, I don’t think it will get any Options, but I will still aim for a high rank in order to get better rewards.

Let’s get all the Advanced Tool Recipes!