“Unfortunately, her drops are just short of what we need. If you ever get another chance at those materials, I’ll try to make it.”
“We gathered so many things on our end, but it wasn’t enough?”
“Not much we can do; it’s all down to luck. I’m looking forward to beating up those Four Heavenly Kings again.”
“And there’s also a matter of ownership—you all have the rights to your own materials... Are you okay with this, Yamikage?”
She had to be talking about the materials from the Heavenly King of water that Yamikage and I had brought back.
“It is no issue of mine, I daresay. Please use it to strengthen milord.”
“You sure?”
“Trying out super rare equipment and skills is practically an event in itself, I daresay.”
“Ah, yeah. Makes sense.”
She wanted to see what a guild member could do with the sort of equipment we rarely ever came across. Hunting gears fell right into that category.
“The weapon in question is called Gear of the Great Blue Sea. I’ll get to work right away. I’ll activate Cooperation with some of my blacksmith buddies I raised—just wait.”
And with that, Romina headed over to her workshop, called together a team of craftsmen, and began the forging process.
“All right, people! We’re gonna be making an incredibly rare and difficult weapon. Let’s join forces and get this done!”
“I don’t even know what we’re making, but I can already tell it’s gonna be amazing.”
“Thanks for including me!”
“So the Unique Skill holder was the island lord?”
“Aight! Let’s do this!”
At the call of a top-tier blacksmith, craftsmen gathered from high and low, and the rhythm of hammers rang out as the Cooperation minigame began. Since we all lacked the necessary skill, none of us knew what was actually going on, but everyone seemed to be hammering away at their assigned stations.
With immense concentration, Romina shaped the materials we’d brought in, while other smiths crafted other parts in parallel.
“Come to think of it, I heard that blacksmithing was also done through division of labor like this in the old days of Japan,” said Shouko.
“Yes, from what I heard, there was casting, forging, and sharpening the blade. And then there was fitting the hilt, assembling it, and engraving the signature. Unfortunately, I don’t know all the details, I daresay.”
“Hmm...”
“When everyone works together...the difficulty goes down and the risk of failure decreases. Even non-specialists can successfully craft this way,” Sheryl explained.
That’s one of the amazing parts about Cooperation skills. There’s only so much one player can do alone.
Eventually, Romina and her team finished the forging. The weapon was complete.
“Phew...that was quite excellent smithing experience.”
“Thanks, Romina. It’s a huge help to get this much EXP right after the update.”
“I should be the one saying thanks. And we’re not done yet! Back to work, people!”
“On it!”
As the blacksmiths all returned to their work, Romina came over to us and handed me a transparent blue crystal sphere. It was a beautiful blue, as if the sea’s essence had been sealed within it... At a glance, I knew it was something extraordinary.
The slots of my already-equipped hunting gear were automatically transferred over.
Gear of the Great Blue Sea ☆
□ (Harpoon-Exclusive Slot)
■ Munagi Bone Rod
■ Blue Shark’s Ice Knife [Sinner of Thieves]
■ High-Density Enhanced Energy Blade Attachment V
Unique Effects: Water Attribute Boost, Harpoon Weapon Scaling Up, Guidance of the Great Blue Sea.
The performance of all my weapons spiked just from equipping it... It was incredible. There was no other way I could describe it.
Looks like I got a new slot.
Perhaps it seemed like I was short on vocabulary, but really, that was just how crazy the power-up was.
With that said, this hunting gear seemed to have exceptionally strong synergy with harpoons. A dedicated slot had been added just for them.
A harpoon, huh...that does fit the whole “hunter of the sea” vibe. Maybe I should borrow some of Sheryl’s old equipment?
But just as the thought crossed my mind, Romina seemed to pick up on it and tossed me a Lizardman Spear as an added bonus.
She wants me to use this, huh? It’s a spear, but it doubles as a harpoon.
I slotted it in.
“We’ve crafted the strongest one first. Now just put in a request, and we’ll forge every other hunting gear we can in one go. We need to earn EXP, so please, let us take the job.”
“Got it. Keep cranking them out.”
“Thanks for that. We’ll put all the finished gear in the castle’s storehouse. It’s all yours, don’t get me wrong, so feel free to take them out as you please.”
“Thanks, Romina.”
“It’s just a hunch, but...I get the feeling there’s some room for further development. How about we strengthen it even more once we have the materials?”
“You can even tell that much?”
“I can see the evolution tree. It should be possible—once we identify the right materials, that is.”
That’s a common game mechanic. But that’s kinda terrifying; it’s already ridiculously strong at its current level.
“I’ll get back to work, then. Come again.”
With those words, Romina turned and returned to her forge.
“Wouldn’t want to be a bother. Let’s get going.”
“Right. We should be off.”
“Where are we going, I daresay?”
“Yeah, it’s not like they added any new areas to explore. Or maybe there are hidden ones.”
That’s the strange thing.
The wave had passed, but it hadn’t come with a large-scale expansion. Despite that, we’d already made our rounds through all the existing hunting grounds in preparation for the wave, which meant there wasn’t much left to do.
“We could go hunt a fish-dragon...or do some grinding around Mikakage. Maybe we could challenge the deeper parts of Cal Mira’s dungeon that opened up.”
My Fishing Mastery skill had been reset, but I could quickly recover my ranks by collecting all my crab traps. No one else seemed keen on doing it, in any case. I planned to handle it on my own anyway.
Not much else I could do when Alto—the one running the operation—was missing.
But right now, testing Hunting Gear comes first.
“I’m curious about what lies in the depths of Mikakage. Why don’t we focus on tackling quests more seriously?” Shouko suggested.
“Uh-huh.”
“I’m on board with that! If sis were around, she could tank for us. It’s a shame.”