Chapter 223 Trust Me
I went shopping at the Ackerman merchant guild the next day.
Io came to visit my house.
It wasn't a big deal; we didn't talk about much. Starting today, I would focus on making heavy attribute weapons for a while. Because of that, I wouldn't be able to show my face in the clan house workshop, so I just told Io to take care of the clan members.
I wrapped up the conversation quickly and walked her to the front door.
"Well then, sorry, but I'm leaving the other stuff to you."
I reminded Io as I stepped outside.
"We don't have much time until the [Evil God] hunt, but keep making wooden swords for training. Also, once the heavy attribute weapons are ready, we'll need to practice with them. Please let the members I mentioned know about this."
"Yeah, I got it. Don't worry about us. When it comes to the [Evil God] hunt, no one's going to slack off. Everyone will focus on training hard."
Io turned around and confidently agreed.
He really had the experience as an explorer. Recently, it seemed like he was trying to kill me along with the clan members, which made it hard to believe, but I could trust him with the clan.
"Thanks, I appreciate it. ...Oh, by the way."
That's when I remembered.
Yesterday, even though Fiona and I didn't show up, the other clan members gathered at the clan house. Io had explained the discussions about the Age of Gods and Chronosphere that took place among the 4 families, as well as the talks related to the hunt.
I had planned to leave everything to Io from the start, but I ended up making him handle a really complicated explanation. I felt a tiny bit sorry about it now.
"Sorry for leaving the explanation to you yesterday. It must have been tough, right?"
"――――Yeah, kinda."
"...Did those idiots really understand it?"
"――It's fine. I explained it properly."
"...I see. By the way... why are you looking away?"
"――――Trust me."
"At least look at me when you say that. ...Hey, you really explained it well, right?"
"――Are you doubting me? That's annoying! I'm leaving!!"
Io dashed off.
"...Well, as long as they participate in the hunt properly, I have no complaints."
I decided not to chase after him.
It might have been cruel to expect the clan's idiots to understand that complicated explanation in the first place.
But still, I was curious about how Io explained things. ...I might need to check on that later.
"Alright, let's get to work."
Anyway, since Io left, I decided to start making the heavy attribute weapons right away.
I moved to my workshop at home and stood in front of the workbench.
The first thing I did was check the heavy attribute equipment I received from Lady Eva――specifically, the 4 family-owned pieces.
I took the equipment out of the storage ring and lined them up on the workbench, checking each one. These heavy attribute pieces were all different in type and size. There were swords, spears, axes, and bows, with no consistency at all. And surprisingly, the most common items weren't even weapons.
"There's a lot of bracelets..."
It seems that the bracelet allows one to channel aura, letting them use heavy attribute aura whenever one wants. With this, people can switch between normal aura and heavy attribute aura attacks without having to change weapons.
But...
"...It's still too weak. This won't even work against Noah or the head families."
I try to channel the aura through the bracelet to dye it with the heavy attribute. However, the light blue aura just turns into a light black... no, more like gray, as if ink was mixed with water.
This is way too weak.
I send the aura back through the bracelet and try to circulate it multiple times, but...
"It's not black enough..."
I spent a lot of time circulating it, but it still falls short compared to "Black-White." In the end, it turned a light black, but it took too long, making it useless in real combat.
To break through the barrier created by the [Evil God]'s Space magic, the bracelet won't cut it. Defense is also impossible. In that case... it might be better not to distribute this bracelet at all. It would be better to make them focus on avoiding the [Evil God]'s attacks from the start, so they won't let their guard down.
However, I think maybe a weapon could be a bit better, so I check each one. But...
"Hmm... it's just a slightly upgraded bracelet. What material is this made of?"
The weapon's performance is also at a level that won't work against the [Evil God] at all.
I'm curious about the materials, so I check the attribute materials of the bracelet and the weapons. It seems that they are made from materials of a dragon or heavy attribute dragon, and the material from a Gravity Elemental Treant.
However, both show signs of having been altered by heat or chemicals.
It's likely that they used fire or chemicals to make it easier to process, but it seems that this caused the performance of the attribute addition to degrade compared to the original material.
In that regard, my "Black-White" is just carved directly from the 'Gravity Elemental Treant's core wood', so there shouldn't be any degradation in the attribute addition performance.
Additionally, the quality and mass of the attribute materials used are very different.
"Black-White" is made entirely of attribute material, but the weapons and bracelets I checked only used a small part of attribute material. Most of it is made of other materials or metal.
Probably――no, definitely, it's because of the property that increases weight when aura is passed through. If it gets too heavy, it becomes hard to handle.
"All the weapons are wiped out... I guess I have no choice but to use weapons made from 'Gravity Elemental Treant's core wood..."
I decided not to use the heavy attribute equipment that the 4 families had for the [Evil God] subjugation.
"But even if I make it entirely from Gravity Elemental Treant like 'Black-White', only Logan and Fiona would be able to handle it... Plus, that would mean we wouldn't have enough material. So, it seems better to cover the outside like 'Silver Peak' with Elder Treant and make about half of it from Gravity Elemental Treant."
Once I decided on the policy for creating heavy attribute weapons, I stored the bracelets and weapons in a ring and took out a translucent crystal with a light gray color――the 'Gravity Elemental Treant's core wood'――onto the workbench.
As I flowed magical energy from my left hand into the chunk, turning it white, I began to split the material with the aura blade that expanded in my right hand.
"First, I guess I'll make dual swords for Fiona."
The jobs of the people I give heavy attribute weapons to are various, but it's better to start with a sword they're familiar with.
"Hmm... But when it comes to combining with the Elder Treant, it's more complicated than 'Silver Peak.' When I channel the aura, the weight changes, so I need to consider that to keep the balance right..."
I plan to make part of the grip, guard, and blade with the Gravity Elemental Treant, and the rest of the blade and edge with the Elder Treant. However, if I don't change the shape of the part made with the Gravity Elemental Treant a bit, the center of gravity will lean too much to the front.
For example, I might need to stretch the blade part to be longer and gather more mass near the tip of the sword.
Also, if I change the shape of the Gravity Elemental Treant part, I'll have to carve the Elder Treant part into a matching irregular shape. Now Fiona can also make "Black Radiance," but this task is much harder than just making "Black Radiance."
"This is way harder than just making 'Black-White' normally..."
I keep channeling aura through the carved Gravity Elemental Treant, carefully adjusting the shape while checking the varying weight.
Before I knew it, I was drenched in sweat and had been focused for hours.
I snapped back to reality when I heard voices from the entrance.
"I'm home!"
"I'm back!"
It was Fiona and Lucia's voices.
Actually, the two of them had left the house to go shopping before Io arrived.
They said they would buy all the ingredients, so it probably took this long. By the way, it's a little past 3 in the afternoon now.
...You might think it takes too long even for grocery shopping, but if you check out different stores, it's not strange for it to take this much time.
"...Oh right, I didn't eat lunch."
I got so focused on my work that I forgot to eat.
Fiona went out of her way to prepare food for me, and here I am――what a slip-up!
"Hmmm... with the time left until dinner, I guess there won't be any fancy soup today..."
Actually, Fiona's cooking skills have improved a lot. Of course, she's been learning from Ms. Alisa many times, so it makes sense. Recently, it's not unusual for delicious dishes to appear on the table.
And Fiona's simple dishes are definitely tastier.
Today, the cooking time is probably limited, so it shouldn't turn out weird.
Even so, I trust Fiona, you know?
Yesterday? I made dinner yesterday.
"......"
And so I continued my work.
――About 30 minutes.
No... it's fatigue. I've been working for quite a long time.
I was sweating, so I thought I'd take a break and drink some water, and I decided to head to the kitchen. But I made sure to be quiet.
It's not because I heard Fiona and the others starting to prepare dinner.
Well, Lucia said she would help, so I don't think there's a problem, but just to be safe, right?
Anyway, as I was heading to the kitchen, I suddenly heard Fiona's proud voice.
"――――It's sulfuric acid!!"
Huh?
...Is my ear messed up or something?
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