"This guy… damn it, he's enviable to a sickening degree. And me, seriously, what the hell am I lacking???"
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Hermes Familia and Artemis Familia have been carrying out missions outside of Orario for many years, so they are very experienced in this kind of surface "expedition."
Especially since this commission came personally from Ouranos, both sides made extremely thorough preparations.
From equipment to elixirs, magic swords to magic items, even the camp tents were arranged completely at the level of a military encampment.
Standing in front of one of the camp's command tents, which functioned almost like a workshop for producing magic items, Fron judged with his rich "expedition" experience that its setup and functionality could already be considered perfect.
Almost on par with the preparations of [Loki Familia].
"It seems your familia isn't without expedition experience either. But as far as I know… even if you tried to hide the floor number, in reality, you only reached the 37th floor before retreating, right?"
Fron tilted his head with meaning, looking at Asfi, whose expression turned awkward, the princess repeatedly twirling the tips of her hair, utterly exposed by that merciless revelation.
"…Ahem, what do you want to use the workshop for?" Awkwardly changing the topic, Asfi really didn't want to talk about that mess left behind by her foolish god, which she had been unable to clean up.
"This time, taking on this mission was something I did along the way. The main goal is to study knowledge about alchemy and the gathering of materials."
"Hm? Alchemy? If I remember correctly, your development abilities are 'Blacksmith' and 'Mystery,' right? You have alchemy too?"
Ryu, standing nearby, was also a little surprised. As a staff member of the 『Hostess of Fertility』, she had naturally gathered a clear grasp of Fron's information.
Besides, being dual-class was already no secret in all of Orario.
"Isn't it better to have more skills? In my other two fields, not to boast, but to go any further at my level no longer depends only on talent and ability. It requires massive amounts of time, energy, and also a bit of luck. I've already hit a bottleneck. So in those two fields, I can't gain much new knowledge anymore."
Saying this, Fron lifted the tent flap and went inside.
"It's the same with combat techniques and magical knowledge. If you want to keep gaining new knowledge, the simplest way is to develop an entirely new field. I've dabbled a little in pharmacy and the basics of being an mixing before, so I think alchemy suits me well now."
"Asfi, isn't your 'Explosive Oil' precisely something you could create because of your development abilities in 'Mystery' and 'Alchemy'? I'm not wrong, am I?"
Pushing up her glasses, Asfi pulled out a crystal vial filled with red liquid from her waist pouch under her pure white cloak and placed it on the workbench.
"That's true, but it's not only because of development abilities. The making of magic items requires not just professional knowledge, but also flashes of fleeting inspiration."
Glancing at the shimmering red liquid with its mysterious glow, Fron nodded in agreement.
"When passing through the northern volcanic region this time, I collected quite a few 'Volcano Flowers.' Before the battles begin, I'll use them all to make items."
"..." Make them? Make what exactly!?
At first, Asfi didn't react, but then she remembered the "Volcano Flowers" collected from the northern volcanic region. Cold sweat broke out on her forehead as she looked at him with utter disbelief.
"Y-you… you, you, you, you… Just from observing a few times, you reverse-engineered the formula for my 'Explosive Oil'? Impossible!"
"..." Her reaction was so strong that Fron almost jumped.
"No, it's not that big a deal, right? It's just 'Explosive Oil.' If it were your Flying Boots, I'd have no confidence. But Explosive Oil is something described in books on magical rituals and magical material studies. If you just experiment a few times, understand the proportions of ingredients and their order, then deduce the temperature from the reaction patterns, you can figure it out."
This time, not only Asfi but even Ryu was completely dumbfounded.
"Do you… do you even know what you're saying? That kind of complicated formula, and you just felt it out and worked backward to find it!?"
"Ah, isn't that normal? When I studied magical rituals before, I didn't think they were difficult either. Could it be this stuff is hard?"
Asfi and Ryu's lips trembled as they stared wide-eyed at him, unable to form words.
"You… really dare to say that, huh…"
"If this were to spread, I wonder how many item creators would be angered to death by you."
On the surface, they pretended to remain calm, but inside they had already been completely shaken.
Too astonishing… is this his trump card? A learning ability, analytical ability, and comprehension beyond human levels. Even scarier is that he can take existing information and precisely deduce the formulas and methods for item creation…
When his reputation spread, everyone only noticed his leveling speed and invincible combat strength. But in truth, this frightening aspect is also part of who he is…
Looking again at the young man's back, Asfi felt a little dazed, though his body wasn't tall, at that moment he gave the illusion of a towering peak.
"Let's go, Ryu. Since Fron wants to make magic items, we shouldn't disturb him." But Ryu shook her head, rejecting Asfi.
"Ryu… you?" Her sky-colored eyes narrowed, the elven girl's brows furrowing deeply, as if perceiving a darker truth.
"The forest ahead… in my perception, it has lost all color. Something is gathering. That overwhelming, disgusting feeling…" Saying this, Ryu moved to a corner of the tent, her hand resting on her sword hilt.
"This camp isn't safe. Tonight, I'll stand watch."
"..." Asfi's face twitched, and she shot Fron a vicious glare before storming off.
"What the hell is with this bastard! That stubborn elf, actually… actually… aaagh, my head hurts!"
"..." Looking at Ryu, who was staring at her own feet, Fron blinked in confusion.
"What's with that woman, yelling at herself like that."
Ryu: "..."
...
Rustle rustle rustle…
Darkness and heavy mist enveloped the Great Tree Sea, even the moonlight spilling from the sky was blocked above.
Shadows swayed with the cool night wind, twisting like phantoms.
Amid the natural chorus of sounds, dense scraping noises rose and fell, rapidly converging toward the single source of firelight.
Looking around, countless scarlet glimmers filled the night, shining with brutal and greedy light.
"Hm?" As the new magic item's crafting neared its end, Fron's stirring rod suddenly halted. He jerked his head toward a certain direction.
"Ryu."
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T/N: Second bonus chapter for crossing 350 power stones; next two bonus chapter at 400 power stones~