Material Collection

The next morning.

I met Ibon.

Skilla showed the estimate she and Lee Su-ju had put their heads together to create yesterday, and compared it with the paper listing Americano’s requirements.

We went straight into the test.

The test wasn’t difficult.

It was similar to physical training.

Americano exercised in the posture instructed by Ibon and proved her physical strength. Pass.

Ibon immediately moved on to the next test, passing through devices designed to test running, jumping ability, and agility one after another.

“Pass. Amazing. She looks slender, but she’s stronger than she looks.”

Well, she was level 33 and had 40 points in [Strength].

If they thought her level was lower than 33, of course she would look good.

Americano asked.

“What’s next?”

“I want to see you fight.”

A sparring arena was set up in the testing room.

I followed Ibon there.

There was a guest already there.

No, an opponent.

Skilla was standing there.

She held a sword in her hand.

Not a greatsword, but an ordinary sword.

“Fight Skilla with all you’ve got.”

“….”

“Not confident?”

“….”

I was.

I had seen Skilla fight several times and was confident I could win.

‘But is it okay to win this?’

Nabi was next to Skilla.

I had made a promise with Nabi, so I was in a difficult position, and Nabi was also looking at me with a troubled face.

But I had no intention of losing.

Americano.

Anonymous.

That’s right, the word defeat doesn’t exist for the number one ranked player. Moreover, deliberately losing was even more out of the question.

Conflicting opinions collided, but.

‘This is perfect.’

There was something I wanted to test.

Americano stepped onto the sparring arena.

She suggested.

“Wanting to see my skills means you want to see me use my techniques, right?”

“That too.”

“Just fight without using your full strength.”

Skilla smirked.

Americano also smirked.

“Then, I have an interesting magic, would you like to try it?”

“Magic? You use magic too?”

“It’s not real magic. It’s something I learned recently that applies Magical Power.”

“What is it?”

“You’ll know if you experience it yourself.”

Americano released Anti-Magic Power.

The [Field] that the Bronze Golem used.

Anti-Magic Power permeated Skilla’s Magical Power, blocking the release of Magical Power.

Ah, she’s flustered.

“Ahahaha, isn’t it fun?”

Americano grinned and raised her sword, pointing it at her.

She pushed forward while she was flustered.

She must have allocated a lot of stats to [Strength], because she visibly lost her balance every time she struck with her sword.

I swung my sword just enough to not completely collapse, but there was no need, as she quickly regained her senses and counterattacked.

Skilla, who was originally planning to take it easy, desperately exchanged blows.

“Haa… Haa…”

“Hoo…”

Draw.

I intended to win, but Skilla was more skilled than I thought.

I had to maintain the [Field] while fighting, and the stat reduction also affected me, who was maintaining the [Field].

I could barely use Magical Power, so most of my Skills were blocked.

I attacked aggressively as usual, but I also attacked Skilla with a hit-and-run tactic, following the mysteries of the [Plum Blossom Sword Technique].

But,

“Not bad?”

“You too, Skilla. I was planning to take the win while you were flustered.”

Skilla refined her skills despite the stat reduction caused by the [Field].

“You know, even before I became a Hero, I fought without the power of a Hero.”

“Well, it’s been at least a year since a Hero appeared.”

“It’s been two years. And it’s been three months since I became a Hero. Before that, I trained to become a great warrior like my father. Even after becoming a Hero, my father said that it’s good to use the power of a Hero, but don’t rely on it.”

“You’ve been rewarded for following that advice?”

“What reward? If I had kept it well, I would have won. A draw! How unsightly.”

But a draw.

For Skilla, who thought winning was a given, it was practically a defeat.

Skilla was skilled in combat methods that didn’t rely on Magical Power, following her father’s advice. She had a lot of experience fighting with insufficient Magical Power for a long time.

It’s been three months since she became a Hero.

Until then, she had been training without the power of a Hero.

Even though she lost the power of the Hero with the [Field], it actually made her relatively stronger.

‘It would have widened the gap more if I hadn’t used the Field.’

Americano wanted to win.

She just assumed she would.

She was confident as the number one ranked player.

It was practically a defeat.

“Hoo… But how was it? Did it work?”

“I saw it well. You fought very well.”

Ibon was constantly impressed.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been stimulated by creative desire. I was convinced that you would fight until your armor was damaged. The competitive spirit to actively attack Skilla. I like it. I like it very much.”

Then he took out a few pieces of paper from his pocket.

One was an estimate.

It had been revised by Ibon.

The other one was,

“Then go collect the materials written there.”

“Collect?”

“Didn’t you know?”

“No.”

“Skilla, you should have explained.”

Skilla said, “I forgot,” and scratched her head.

“In short, you have to catch the monsters that become the materials yourself.”

“Me?”

“Of course. Wouldn’t it build more trust in the materials if you caught the materials for the armor that will protect your body with your own hands?”

“….”

I don’t understand.

Isn’t it the opposite?

If I can catch them with my own hands, I’ll distrust the defensive power of the materials.

“I know what you’re thinking. Don’t make me keep explaining. You’ll know if you go and fight those guys there.”

<Subquest>

[Armor Material Hunt]

The monsters to hunt are as follows.

Adamant Ore from the Ore Golem.

Metal Jelly from the Metal Slime.

Phoenix Feather.

The three main materials for armor.

You can get a huge discount of up to 80 percent if you hunt directly for materials that can be obtained from the artificial hunting ground made in Dwarfneer.

[Ore Golem]

Crimson letters.

A collection of rough rocks raised both arms high and slammed them down.

Thud!

It shook the earth.

Americano, who avoided the [Ore Golem]’s slam with a backstep, immediately moved her body forward and climbed up the [Ore Golem]’s arm.

The [Ore Golem]’s body was covered with mithril, orichalcum, and adamant ore.

Americano held her sword upright.

[Thrust]

She inserted her sword into the gaps between the rocks,

[Destroying Heaven Sword]

It exploded with a bang.

The explosion inside the [Ore Golem] caused the rocks that made up its body to fall off.

She picked up a mottled rock among them.

Adamant Ore.

She rolled the ore and sent it to the Dwarf employee who manages the artificial hunting ground.

Rumble.

The [Ore Golem] gathered the surrounding rocks and stood up again.

[Ore Golem] is also a Golem. An artificially created magic robot. Like the [Ultra Iron Golem], one of those rocks must be its weakness.

But I can’t defeat it.

It belongs to Dwarfneer.

She used [Destroying Heaven Sword] weakly, without damaging the rocks, and dealt with the [Ore Golem] by detaching the rocks.

Americano avoided the [Ore Golem]’s punch, climbed on, and exploded.

As she repeated the process,

“That’s enough.”

“Already?”

“Yes. Thanks to you, guest, for digging up what the Golem had deeply buried, we got quite a few heavy ones. Usually, we only dig up what’s on the surface, but you’re amazing.”

The Dwarf employee sent his admiration.

Americano,

‘Of course.’

She muttered to herself and smirked.

Adamant Ore.

The Dwarf employee, who calculated the adamant content in the ore mixed with stone, congratulated her on successfully collecting 100 kilograms of adamant.

“Are you going right away?”

“Yes. Let’s go right away.”

Strike while the iron is hot.

I went to catch the next material right away.

The next material is the Metal Slime.

I’ve caught Water Slimes, but I wonder what kind of creature the Metal Slime is. Just hearing the name makes me think of an image that will terminate.

I was guided by the Dwarf employee.

It was a place where valley water was flowing.

I wondered if it was okay to be in a place like this since it’s metal, but when I arrived, my Electrical Ability was stimulated. A throbbing presence felt through Electrical Signals.

The throbbing presence raised its body, which had been thinly spread out on the gravel field, and solidified into a round shape.

The Dwarf employee told me how to collect it, saying, “Just take the jelly from that slime.”

[Metal Slime]

Yellow letters.

The size was small.

No, is it big?

The height came up to my knees, and the diameter was a hemispherical metal jelly as long as one arm.

Comparing only the torso without the limbs, it was as big as a wild boar.

Its movements were slow, moving more slowly than a person walking.

As I approached, thorns sprouted from the smooth metal surface as it rippled.

Nothing else changed, it just became a hedgehog and ended there, but when I looked back at the Dwarf employee, he gestured as if shouting, “Slash it.”

“….”

‘It’s more like butchering than hunting.’

Americano raised her sword and slashed down.

It bounced off with a clang.

“…Huh?”

She slashed down again.

It bounced off with a clang.

The surface hit by the sword hardened, then soon returned to being soft.

“Ha…”

Interesting.

Americano used her Awakened Ability.

She floated the [Metal Slime] in the air without touching the core.

She held the sword in both hands while hanging in the air.

She infused Magical Power and [Slash].

It didn’t go through and was blocked.

The [Metal Slime] returned to its soft state without a single scratch.

The sword that was touching the softened area was buried in the [Metal Slime].

“Oops.”

She immediately pulled out the sword, but was eaten by the [Metal Slime] as much as the swallowed area.

She drew a new sword.

[Slash]

[Slash]

[Slash]

[Slash]

[Slash]

She unleashed a series of [Slash].

But each time, the [Metal Slime] hardened its body and returned to its soft form without a single scratch.

“Interesting.”

The [Metal Slime] had the property of hardening its body when it received an impact.

Is the reason why [Slash] doesn’t work at all because the power is insufficient?

No, just as you can’t break a rock with an egg, the difference in the metal that the steel sword and the [Metal Slime] inherently possessed was obvious.

In front of the [Metal Slime], the steel sword was just an egg.

I understand why Ibon told me to experience it myself.

Armor made with the latest technology.

Expectations swelled.

Good marketing.

Americano held a new sword.

The sword she used earlier was tattered.

In front of the [Metal Slime],

She gripped her sword tightly.

The [Metal Slime] has a weakness.

Of course, it’s ambiguous to call it a weakness.

[Phantom Sword]

[Slash]

[Phantom Sword] hit the [Metal Slime] first, and [Slash] was immediately stabbed into the hardened surface.

The blade dug into the hardened surface.

The [Metal Slime] was split in half.