CH 152

Chapter 152 – Bucket, I’m here to pick you up!

The weapon gift for Mika was completed.

The people who sold me the Absolute Zero Light Ore may have been the clansmen of Gospel, but the way my workshop works is that I am the one who decides what to do with the materials brought to me. Requests are not allowed.

Especially for something like an unknown material with no information available for it. I can’t even know if I’ll be able to process this kind of thing until I try it, so there would be no way for me to promise crafting something with those.

But well, my workshop doesn’t accept requests anyways, so that point is moot.

After all, the gear I make always sells quickly, so I have no need of taking on requests.

Other than Clan-exclusive crafters, who naturally accept requests from the members of their Clans, each producer handles requests differently.

People who focus on Original gear tends to naturally have plenty of customers, so they don’t need to take in requests if they don’t want to, but other crafters tend to either need some good way of advertising their products; have a really high-quality in their creations; or accept requests, if they want to sell.

I’m lucky that I don’t need to go through any of that hassle and can instead just sell whatever I put in my store.

And that’s why I don’t need to worry about who sold me rare materials when I decide to use them on my crafts.

However, Gospel is a Clan that is on my priority sales, and I was able to process all but the first ore I tried working with, so I still have some leftovers even after making a sword for Mika.

So, let’s use the rest to make a large shield for the leader of the Gospel Clan, Izreel.

A large shield is the type that most tank Pioneers prefer to use. It provides a lot of defense, but is heavy and a bit hard to wield.

The medium shield is a bit easier to use, but is also smaller and doesn’t provide as much defense.

And then there is the small shield, which is really easy to move around, but covers a pretty small area and has a fairly low defense value.

Those are the three types.

The large shield may be hard to wield, but when used in conjunction with Skills and Arts that lure enemies, it can be an excellent tool for a tank, so it’s quite popular.

Tanks that use medium or small shields tend to be the ones who like not only playing a defensive role, but also actively helping out on attacks.

Of course, they don’t have the same resilience as a tank with a large shield, so they can’t lure in as many mobs safely, but they compensate for that by overpowering enemies with their offensive potential.

The smaller shields seem to be preferred by people who hunt on smaller parties, as they need each member to be more versatile.

But well, this time, I’m making a large shield.

Since it’s pretty big, it unsurprisingly requires a large amount of materials, but that’s not a problem. The necessary materials are less than double of what the Short Sword needs, and I have enough ingots to make at least one of those large shields.

And as I’ve made plenty of Large Steel Shields already, this is something I’m fairly used to making.

Since I was able to make the Zero Light Short Sword, I’m sure I’ll be able to make a Large Shield with the Absolute Clear Light Ingots too.

Especially because I didn’t need to enter the Zone to make this item, so, even if it’s an item with four Options, I’m confident in making it.

Also, while I’m not sure of how exactly the unique Option of the Zero Light Short Sword works, I think it probably reflects the damage you take back to the opponent.

Since this came from the ingot itself, I’m sure the Large Shield will get this Option too.

And well, isn’t it a great Option for a shield? Even if this material can make the best type of weapon I could make so far, it just seems to fit armor pieces better.

But well, Mika prefers fighting with a highly agile strategy, so this weapon will definitely be great for her anyways.

******

And… Done!

Just like when I made the Zero Light Short Sword, I bought plenty of Super Life Potion – Small from Mii and Muu before trying it out.

I didn’t use any of the normal Life Potions this time, but I brought more of the Super Life Potions with me on this attempt, so I was able to finish it with a bit more leeway than I had when crafting the sword.

Of course, this does increase the production costs of the item, as the Super Life Potion is currently the highest level of potion available.

Still, it was worth it, as I was able to create a wonderful shield!

——

Zero Light Great Shield

Large Shield/Heavy Armor/9*/DEF +167; E: Light; HP +1560; REF +102/Large Light Enchantment/Extra Large Vitality Enhancement/Extra Large Reduction of Durability Loss Speed/Large Damage Reflection/Durability: 650

——

The vitality enhancement is amazing!

The durability of a large shield is also naturally a lot higher than the one of a short sword, but I also got the fantastic Option of reducing the rate at which the shield loses durability.

That said, the light enchantment is pretty worthless on a shield, but that can’t be helped as it’s part of the ingot’s effects.

Still, if I put this up at an auction, wouldn’t it sell for an outrageous amount?

Well, I won’t put it for auction. The next auction will only be in the middle of the next month, and I think I’ll be able to make something better than this by then.

Rare materials are starting to appear more often after the update, after all, so I’m sure I’ll get some new ones soon.

That said, as one of the items made with this material is meant to be a surprise for Mika, I’m not gonna sell it until next year.

If I sell the shield to Gospel first, it will lose part of the surprise factor, after all.

In any case, I now used most of the Absolute Clear Light Ingots I had. The little I have left are only enough to make an accessory, but something like Damage Reflection won’t be very useful in an accessory, so… Essentially, even if the item has four Options once finished, it will work as well as something with two Options in it.

In that case, it’s better to just focus on making Steel or Royal Steel accessories instead.

In the end, item performance is heavily dependent on their Options, so I’d rather not spend a rare material on something that isn’t guaranteed to give good results.

So, let’s put these ingots on my warehouse and wait until I have more of them to craft with.

******

“Bucket, I’m here to pick you up!” Lolita exclaimed.

“Got it, got it.” I replied.

Today was the New Year’s Eve, the thirty-first of December.

The year ends today… It truly went by quickly.

In Frontiers, the New Year’s Eve lasts three days, as the in-game time flows three times faster than real time, so… Basically, it will be New Year’s Eve in Frontiers for as long as it is the eve in real life too.

The same holds true for the New Year itself, but after that, a strange phenomenon occurs that will make the celebration keep on going for another nine in-game days, or three real days.

On top of that, during the three days of New Year’s Eve in Frontiers, there will be a small event each night where fireworks will be launched.

This is something that was officially announced by the dev team, but there is nothing special about it other than the fireworks themselves.

Basically, fireworks will be launched on all days of New Year’s Eve, so as to let people who are busy with family celebrations and the like still have three chances of coming to see it within Frontiers.

Also, the new year’s fireworks will be different from the fireworks we can purchase with event points, so the player-organized fireworks display won’t be overshadowed by the New Year’s ones.

The dev team sure did a good job here!

“Thank you for waiting.” I told everyone.

“Oh! It suits you! As expected of me!” Lolita exclaimed.

“… As expected.” Lulu said.

I gave a strained laugh at that, “Thank you.”

“We too!” Mii said.

“We won’t lose!” Muu said.

“We look great too!” The twins said together.

“Oh yeah, you two definitely look nice.” I told them.

When one thinks of fireworks festivals, yukatas automatically come to mind. *

And yes, Lolita made some breathtaking yukatas for all members of Works.

And as expected of Frontiers, they count as light equipment.

In any case, the yukatas were all made with careful attention to the details.

My yukata has a lily flower motif and has some deformed bucket helms embroidered in some parts of it.

In fact, everyone got some sort of unique embroidery in their yukata.

Lulu’s has sweets.

Mii’s and Muu’s have flasks and potion bottles.

Mukaida’s has swords and shields.

Kuuruu’s has rice bowls.

And Lolita’s is in a gothic lolita yukata with lots of frills in it.

They’re completely original yukatas with a high performance and that look fantastic.

Honestly, it felt troublesome to receive this for free, so we decided to treat Lolita at the NPC festival stalls that will only be open during the New Year’s Eve.

I still didn’t feel like that was enough, but since Lolita was the one who made the suggestion, we decided to go ahead and accept it.

Well then, let’s go to the main street and see the stalls.

I wonder if they’ll be selling candy apples and the like? I never ate one of those, so I’ll be looking forward to it.

If it’s not for sale, I might ask Lulu to see if she can make one.

It’s been a long time since I’ve last went to a festival, so I’m looking forward to it!

—————–

* Translator’s Note: A yukata is a traditional Japanese dress that is typically used in summer festivals. It looks a bit similar to a kimono, but is lighter. You probably saw it in animes at some point, but if you haven’t, just google it and you should find plenty of examples of what they look like.