Chapter 225: Neglected Wounds Fester and Curse

"...Haaaaahhhhhhh............"

Receiving the "We basically beat up Ctarrnid after a bunch of stuff happened!" report from me and Emul, Bilac let out a sigh with her entire soul.

"I knew you lot were a buncha idiots, but... haaaaaahhhhhhh........."

"Don't be like that, say something to her, Emul."

"Right. Sunraku-san was his usual self even in Ruluiath, but this really was an accident desu wa."

"...So? If yer comin' to my place, ya must've flashily wrecked 'em again. Lemme see 'em."

"It was seven days straight, after all... Everything except the Aspiring Blades of the Hero (Duxram) is in tatters."

The Aspiring Blades of the Hero are certainly highly compatible with me, but even so, I can't land critical hits 100% of the time. Endlessly slicing through half-fishmen and mermaids like some zombie game meant I would occasionally miss my crits, and I also fought through fierce battles with an Oarfish, a Killer Whale, and an Anglerfish.
Aside from the Aspiring Blades of the Hero and the Brilliant Scorpion Gauntlets (Gilta Brille)—which flashily broke during the Ctarrnid fight—everything else is worn down so much it looks like it could break at any moment. Operating my window, Bilac inspected the weapons I presented, but just as expected, she grimaced grandly at the "Broken" status of the Brilliant Scorpion Gauntlets.

"...Well, pickin' a fight with that Ctarrnid... I know it was a death match, but ya really did a number on 'em again, didn't ya."

"I mean, system-wise... by design, this thing is built under the assumption it's gonna break."

"That means don't push the output till it breaks, ya damn fool!"

No, no, if you're a man, it's only natural you'd want to silently push it to 100%... No, 120%. It's about romance! 30% of a human being is made of it. If not, gambling and games wouldn't exist in this world.

"Also, I want you to make some new weapons. I have plenty of materials... like, seriously, a massive amount."

"Hmph... I don't mind, but do ya have the Mani fer it?"

"This person stripped Ruluiath clean of all its gold and silver treasures desu wa..."

"It's amazing. I have enough to probably build a castle."

I probably shouldn't mention this to Elke. She'd casually rip me off.
I took materials out of my Inventoria, and out, and out, and out, and out, and out, and out, and out, and out, and out, and ouuuu— "Wait, wait, wait, wait!!"

"Hold yer damn horses!"

"I still have more, you know."

"Just how much have ya been fightin'..."

Humans... no, living creatures have a specific "Anxiety Threshold Number." Specifically, it's that feeling you get with monster drops: 'I want to make weapons and armor with this, but do I have enough? Should I farm more?' It's not quite the collector's spirit; it's the inescapable fate of the Hack-and-Slash genre. The required number of materials needed to craft every single piece of gear is deemed the "bare minimum," and until the player gathers that much, they are essentially synonymous with a slaughterhouse.
For example, if an enemy drops materials that sell for a delicious price, they'll likely be continuously hunted to extinction until the player puts the game on the shelf and doesn't touch it again until they feel like it. And if there are materials that can only be obtained in a place you can only stay in for seven days, you farm them with everything you have... That is the karma of a gamer.

"At times like this, ya do the process backwards. What kinda weapon do ya want? Spit it out."

"What kind... huh."

Assuming I'm updating my head and waist armor... Making another pair of dual blades wouldn't be bad. It wouldn't be bad, but I kinda want to try using a different weapon while I'm at it. That said, given my skills, starting to use a hammer or a spear now would be pointless... Let's see.

"Armor for my head and waist... a fist weapon, a one-handed sword, and... a shield."

"A shield?"

I guess it makes sense that Bilac, who made almost all my current weapons, would find that strange. The stats for my character, Sunraku, are now entirely specialized in complete evasion. After all, until the Ctarrnid fight, blocking an attack would mean instant death anyway. I did manage to gain conditional durability by obtaining the status inversion item, but ultimately, something like that is virtually meaningless.
Given that this game features two distinct systems—"Skills" and "Magic"—even if I dress up in gear and supplement it with player skill, I still wouldn't even come close to the pure, dedicated classes that refuse to compromise on their skills and magic.

Take the tank players from SF-Zoo, for example. In exchange for completely sacrificing their mobility, they successfully protected the rear guard against Lycaon... That is the epitome of a tank. "All-rounder" sounds nice, but it's a title that only works if you have overwhelmingly superior strength over your enemies; if you're equal or weaker, society generally calls that a "Jack-of-all-trades, master of none."
If that's the case, is it a compromise for someone like me, who specializes in evasion and positioning, to hold a shield? Since I'm half-naked anyway, is there really a need to force myself to carry one?

Shut up, you idiot. I use it because I want to use it.

It's not like I want a Tower Shield or anything. Because I've been fighting nothing but absurdly massive monsters lately, I've hyper-specialized in evasion, but it's not like I'm bad at parrying. A shield just big enough to hold in one hand and deflect swords or spears wouldn't contradict Sunraku—it would function as a sword that doesn't cut.
There are people out there who dual-wield Tower Shields and play around yelling "Absolute Defense!" Well, specifically, that's what I did when I had too much free time in a different game, but shields are fun to use in their own right. If you grip it a certain way, it basically turns into an iron-plate fist weapon...

"I get it, I get it. Just lookin' at yer face tells me what yer tryin' to say."

"Eh, I haven't said anything yet."

"Yer face is screamin', 'Stop yer yappin', I can handle it, so hurry up and make it.'"

Well, you see. I did kinda think, 'Don't complain so much, NPC Weapon Shop,' yes.

"Nn. Helmet, waist-belt... gauntlets, one-handed sword, and a shield. Then it'll be this, and this, this... and this too."

Bilac deftly picked out several items from the massive pile of materials, but suddenly stopped moving as she looked at one particular item.

"...Hoo, so this is what ya meant by 'I want a shield'."

"...You figured it out?"

"Seein' material this splendid, even I'd wanna make a shield out of it."

The Illuminating Mirror Bone of the Nether-King Orca... A part of the transparent, disc-shaped skull that Atlanticus Repnorca used as a lens when firing its beam. If this material were to be turned into a weapon or armor, there would be no other choice but a shield.

"I'm feelin' a strong power comin' from it, same as the Golden Scorpion..."

"I bet. If my friend hadn't helped me, I would've been eaten too."

"That fish-smellin' guy desu wa?"

"Araba, yeah."

Given he was an attacker who could 'swim' through the air in Ruluiath, he was stupidly strong... Our habitats don't align, but I'd like to meet him again before I retire from this game someday. However, it feels like the "Conversion" system is somehow tied into all this, and if that's the case, I have a problem.

"So I really can't move forward without defeating Lycaon, huh..."

The "Scar" etched into me by that bastard. It possesses a troublesome nature that could be considered an evolved form of the previous "Curse," but the restriction I had put off dealing with when I first checked it has suddenly become an issue.

───The seal on "Conversion". Judging by Kyou-timate, Conversion is essentially post-creation character customization.
Most likely, you can change your avatar to a race with the "Humanoid" suffix. According to Kyou-timate, becoming a beast-type probably provides a straightforward boost to physical strength. But the Scar sealed that away.
Which means I can't change my race until I smack Lycaon down and lift the curse. Bring it on, you dog bastard. Even if I don't strictly need it, I have a nature where I get uncontrollably irritated the moment something is restricted from me.

"About how long will it take to finish?"

"Come by tomorrow night. I'll have 'em done by then."

"Got it."

"That said."

Nn?
Bilac patted it... the cracked gauntlet that had lost its original power.

"Repairin' this one's gonna break my bones. It ain't happenin' for at least a week."

"Hmm, well, can't be helped. Just knowing it can be fixed is good news."

Well then, I suddenly have a lot of free time on my hands. What should I do?

Author's Afterword
The "Blacksmith" Job naturally allows players to upgrade weapons, but they can also craft them from scratch.
However, there are two methods for crafting weapons: crafting a weapon registered in the system, and creating a completely original... in other words, a Unique Weapon.
With the former, while you cannot craft weapons with outstanding abilities, you can repeat the process a hundred times and create a hundred identical swords.
With the latter, you can create weapons with unique performance based on stats and levels, but even if you repeat the process a hundred times, it is extremely rare to create two swords with the exact same performance.