CH 156

Data.147 – Old Bowman, The Blade that calls Clouds

“…In the end, it was quite dangerous even after there were fewer heads.”

We were able to destroy the false machine god, Yamata No Orochi.

While there were fewer heads, they started moving wildly without any coordination, which was annoying.

There are times when thoughtless attacks can be more difficult to deal with.

In the case of the Yamata No Orochi, I felt that it was more difficult when the heads moved on their own.

One shot a beam, another a missile, and another would bite…

Hmm. It really had been terrible.

Still, we won in the end!

I would check the drop items and then return to the elevator.

“Uhh… The most rare one is probably this. ‘Machine Blade – Amano Murakumo.’”

As it was something that the Yamata No Orochi dropped in the original myth, I had expected to get it.

But this was a sword, and I used bows, so… Oh?

“This is a material item. It’s just a blade without a handle. So it’s not a sword.”

In this game, boss monsters rarely dropped entire weapons.

Because each player used different weapons, it would be more convenient to acquire items instead.

Even special monsters like the Windcloud Dragon hadn’t dropped any weapons. I received the bow at the settlement that I visited after.

There were exceptions with weapons that weren’t particularly rare.

Like how the weak spider monster had dropped the Spider Shooter, monsters sometimes dropped normal weapons.

However, even those weapons could evolve with the right materials, so they could also be useful.

In my case, I sold weapons that I didn’t need.

“Murakumo… Cloud, huh? It would be nice if it went with my Windcloud set and made my bow stronger…”

I muttered. At the time, I had no idea that those words would come true… No, I was actually about 70% hopeful.

◆　◆　◆

“This is the definition of great luck…”

After returning to the underground machine city, I visited the master craftsman, Mr. O.

I showed the ‘Machine Blade – Amano Murakumo’ to the android at the counter, and what was displayed on the screen was…an evolution for the Blackwind Darkcloud Bow.

So it would make my bow stronger…!

C-calm down…you have to think about this first.

Now that there were two craftsmen that I could hire, I needed to split the work between them in a way that would be efficient.

First, Mr. Yu would finish the three pieces from the Windcloud set the day after tomorrow.

As the Blackwind Darkcloud Bow would take three days to evolve, it would make the most sense to ask Mr. O to do it.

And I also wanted to make some new gear for Garbow with the materials that I gathered from the Machine God Windhole.

And so I should split up the work evenly between them…

No, I hadn’t even decided what I was going to make for Garbow yet.

After all, I had acquired so many machine-type material items from the weapon cave.

So there were a lot of things that I could make.

I would take my time and think…about how to make him stronger.

Thinking about such things was fun.

First was his weapon.

He currently had a crossbow equipped, but that was because I was going to have Garbow use Seabow Arts. So I could change it into something else entirely…

Because having both player and Unison use arrows would limit the kind of enemies we could deal with…

And I should change his armor into something with more powerful weapon skills…

However, his current gear increased his MP, which was very nice…

Missile Pod was one of his main attacks, and he also had ranged weapon type charge attacks…

After evolving, Garbow had gained Clone and Charge, which made him even stronger with close range combat. So I should probably do something to help improve him with long range combat…

Ah, but since I wanted Garbow to be well-rounded, maybe I should try something completely different…?

There was some gear that looked useless at a glance, but could be surprisingly effective during PvP…

What should I do…

Hmm…

…

“…Huh!?”

I suddenly returned to myself and looked at my watch.

It showed that it was currently night time.

Damn it, this is what it was like to play and forget the time…

There was also the fact that it was underground, and so it was easier to lose track. But choosing new equipment really was fun…!

I could do it all day.

Especially since this time, there was a potential enemy with Nord.

Would such strategies work against a player who was above me?

He used guns, which were a bad match for me. Could I really stop him like this?

With a clear enemy in sight, it was easier to strategize.

If they were the strongest in NSO, then we could be the strongest if we beat them.

It was because of VRHAR that the vague goal of being the best was now more clear.

“Well, we’ll be the new strongest once the event is finished!”

…It was a little embarrassing when I said it out loud. But that was the plan. There was no need to fear.

In the first place, I had become MVP by accident once.

And so as long as I did my best, I should be fine.

I would probably sound cool if I could say such things with conviction to the youngsters.

Maybe I should practice?

“Surely I have better things to do…”

I joked to myself and then organized the things that I needed to do.

First, I had an idea of what I wanted Garbow’s new equipment to be.

And I would split the work between Mr. Yu and Mr. O.

I had already asked Mr. O to evolve my bow.

And so I had a different bow to use in the meantime.

It was also possible that my equipment could break during the event.

And so it would be a good thing to familiarize myself with my other bows as well.

So, as for what I was going to do now…I needed to get a regeneration potion.

It was a special potion that allowed you to regrow any lost limbs.

Without this, I would become useless during PvP after losing a single arm.

Everyone would be so disappointed in me. I wanted to avoid that.

However, regeneration potions weren’t sold in stores.

So I had to acquire them in some other way…but I didn’t know how.

I could just look it up online, but I decided to ask my friends, as they may know some secret method.

And so I opened the window and composed a message for one of the other guild members.

While this was a game, I was still asking for someone’s time, so I tried to be polite…

“All right…”

And then I sent the business e-mail to Satomi.