As I headed to the Rental Production Facility, I received a message from Hime. I thought it was a bit weird since we had just parted, but I opened it, ‘I’m also in a clan.’ she said.
… That was surprising. I thought she was planning on playing solo, but I guess I was wrong.
The clan she joined was specialized in cutting down the Demon Trees, the ‘Kikoridottokori’ clan… The name seems very fitting for ‘Mechacure Himecut’.
It’s nice that she joined a woodcutting clan, as we need people focusing on that if we are to unlock new areas. Apparently, she decided to join it after I told Lolita that I was joining her clan. It served as a push for Hime to search for her own clan.
I wonder if she’d have remained solo if I didn’t join Lolita’s clan then… Hime is a bit too considerate, so she might have wanted to join a clan before, but didn’t want me to feel left out, so refrained to.
I felt a bit bad when thinking of it this way… So let’s apologize by gifting her a wonderful woodcutting axe! She’ll need one now that she’s on this clan, so I’ll make sure she gets nothing but the best one!
“Wait for it, Hime! I’ll make a great axe for you!” I sent her this message, then went to work.
******
It took me a few hours to get the axe with the specific ‘Options’ I wanted, but eventually I got it, so I immediately sent a message to Hime about it.
We’d usually meet up at my store, but I wanted to drink a cup of tea when gifting it to her, so we went to a cafe instead.
Luckily enough, the store wasn’t too crowded, so we could easily find a seat. After ordering something to drink, I told her, “Congratulations on joining a clan!”
“Thank you.” She replied.
“Since you will need an axe for cutting down the Demon Trees, I made this gift for you!” I said as I showed her the woodcutting axe.
“You sure about this?” She asked me.
“Yes! I put my utmost into making it, so please don’t hold back when wielding it!” I replied.
“I’ll take good care of it.” She said while picking it up.
I could see how happy she was even though her face was still hidden behind her mask. Seeing her joy was all that I needed to get very happy too.
And so, I properly gave this axe to her:
——
Amethyst Woodcutting Axe
Axe/6*/ATK +34 CRT +3/Extra Damage Against Demon Trees; Small Durability Enhancement/Durability 120
——
It was made based on the ‘Bronze Woodcutting Axe’ recipe that I got at the library. It has a lower attack than normal Bronze Axes, but Woodcutting Axes can get the special ‘Option’ of dealing extra damage against Demon Trees, which makes them worth the while if that’s the only thing you’re going to use them for.
… Though you’re not guaranteed to get that ‘Option’ when crafting it, which would make the axe lose most of its usefulness.
It’s not that hard to get this particular ‘Option’ though, but since I was aiming for an axe with two ‘Options’, with the second one being the durability enhancement one, as that’s the best for Woodcutting, I ended up having to try many times until it came out right.
The Amethyst part was done by using the ‘Add’ skill to put the gem in it. I chose Amethyst because Hime’s birthday is on February and that’s the gem for that month.
“It is great…” She told me as she saw the stats.
“Glad you liked it! By the way, I actually have a bunch of spares, since it took a while to get the right ‘Options’.” I told her. In fact, I made so many, that it was even registered as an original recipe… It’s fine though, since it was a gift for Hime, I don’t mind putting an extra effort in that.
“I want them, sell them to me.” She said.
“Eh? But most of them are of lower rank and don’t have the ideal ‘Options’…” I don’t know why she’d want those.
“See this.” As she said that, she started showing me a video.
“Huh? Huuuh…? Eeeeeeeh!?” Was my reaction as I saw it.
“Ehe.” Was all that she said.
In this video, Hime was fighting Demon Trees… She was cutting them down while wielding ten axes at the same time, controlling them with her Magical Threads.
And at the same time that she did that, she also used the threads to control the movement of the nearby enemies, so that they wouldn’t attack her.
… I got the idea, and I did know that Hime was an amazing person that could control each thread individually, which basically nobody else could do, but still… Wielding ten weapons!? Doesn’t the game put a damage penalty on you if you start using multiple weapons at once?
“How does this even work…?” I asked her.
“It works because it’s woodcutting.” She replied.
“Ah! The damage penalty only applies in battles!?” I asked her. She nodded to that comment.
Since cutting Demon trees isn’t a battle, she can deal full damage…
“But what about the monsters around you? You’d need to handle them eventually, right?” I asked her.
“I rely on others.” She replied.
The video was still playing as we talked, and just now, someone that was probably her party member appeared and started killing the mobs, “I see. You can focus on just cutting the trees and delaying the mobs, and then eventually your clan mates can finish off the monsters when you’re starting to get overwhelmed… That’s a good strategy.” I commented, to which she nodded.
… She’s really amazing. To handle ten axes at the same time, actively use them to cut the Demon Trees, and also crowd control the monsters without actively engaging in battle with them? How does she even do that?
Well, it makes sense that she’d want more axes when this is her playstyle though, “Alright, I’ll sell you more axes then.” I told her.
“Thank you.” She said.
As much as I cared for her, I just couldn’t give them all away as gifts, so I ended up just giving her a discount… Especially because the Amethysts were a bit expensive, so I had to make the money back somehow.
About half of the axes were sold to Hime in the end, so the other half will be put for sale on the store.
And with this, after talking a bit more, we ended up parting ways, since I still needed to make more products for the store after all.
Though of course, Hime’s gift had a far higher priority than making things for sale. As she’s my very important best friend!
******
After I returned to the Rental Production Facility and got to work, I ended up receiving a message from Rush, saying that he decided to join Mika’s clan in the end.
I was happy for him, and ended up sending a ‘Good luck!’ message to him, but that was about it. We weren’t close enough for me to craft a custom-made gift, after all.
And like this, time passed in the blink of an eye. I kept on working hard on raising my Improved Blacksmithing level while making many products for the store and leveling my new skills.
And finally, it was the update day. The game was going to have a 24h long maintenance to apply the update, so I suddenly found myself having a lot of free time.
I passed it by playing some other VR software, looking up some information, and playing with Mika and Hime when they came to visit.
They were both on summer vacations, so they could stay for quite a while. I couldn’t go to school myself, so it was like I had a year-round summer vacation for myself… But since I could spend a lot of time having fun with Mika and Hime, I never felt bored. They’re very good friends.
Sadly, because of the rules, the time we could spent together was limited. But by the time they left, the maintenance was almost finished.
Let’s kill some time collecting information while we wait for it then.
… It’s been ten days since Frontier was released. The long-awaited first update is finally here.
Mika and Hime are both excited about fighting the raid boss, and I can’t wait to reach the level where I can craft Iron.