I had always wondered.
Where on earth we were supposed to use all the materials we had.
In other games, they would have designated places to spend them, like crafting or exchange, but in Arcadia, no matter how hard you looked, there was no way to consume them besides selling them.
It wasn’t as if I was short on money, either, so I had simply kept them in my inventory without selling them all this time, but…
‘To think crafting wouldn’t open until Zone 4.’
At this point, I wanted to crack open their heads and see what kind of mindset they’d had when designing this game.
Though making it a death game in the first place wasn’t exactly normal, either.
Anyway.
“You can craft equipment here?”
Naira nodded.
“Yeah. My armor was made here, and so were Emily’s and Mugi’s weapons.”
“How’s the performance?”
“Obviously way better than the shop’s. Well, we’ll have to go inside to know the details. The process is trickier than you’d think.”
“Really?”
Then all the more reason to go in.
Not that I’d had any intention of leaving after coming this far.
Having made up my mind, I opened the door to the workshop.
“What is it, humans again?”
The person inside was a dark elf with a long trailing beard and deep wrinkles carved into his face, giving him a cantankerous air.
It was my first time seeing an elf who looked like an old grandfather, so I stared at him with curious eyes.
Just then, Naira approached him as if he were an old friend and waved.
“Hi, old man. Did you eat?”
“You’re… the human girl who came yesterday? Why are you here again?”
“Come on, do I need a reason to visit? I can just stop by. And while I’m at it, introduce my friends too.”
“Hmph, so this was your goal from the start.”
The sages of old once said:
You can’t spit in a smiling face, and greetings are very important in deciding a first impression.
Especially since Arcadia’s NPCs were no different from real people.
I bowed first to the dark elf, who was looking at us with displeasure.
“Hello. My name is Ian.”
“I’m Veronica. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Well, your manners aren’t bad.”
The cranky old man still had a deep scowl on his face, but thanks to our greetings, the atmosphere had softened considerably compared to before.
“I’m Hastan.”
Because of that, Veronica and I were able to keep smiling despite his curt tone.
“So you lot came to craft too?”
I nodded.
“Yes. Naira told me you make the best things, sir.”
“Tch. As if I make anything for you. You have to do that yourselves. Whatever. Come over here and sit.”
But judging by the twitch at the corner of his mouth, he seemed to be in a rather good mood.
I walked up to Hastan.
“Oho… Now that I look, you’re the queen’s guest.”
“How did you know that?”
“I can tell just by looking at the necklace. Tsk, this has gotten troublesome. Can’t be helped. I’ll explain from the beginning, just this once.”
“Hey, old man. You didn’t explain any of that to me.”
“The world’s unfair by nature, you little wench.”
Watching Naira and Hastan bicker, a smile naturally formed on my lips.
And if this was a privilege, then it was only proper to enjoy it.
I sent my thanks to the friend who was probably suffering somewhere far away.
Thank you, Miss Kalinia.
“Anyway, is there something you want to make?”
“This is my first time, so I don’t really know what exactly I can make.”
“Don’t worry. You can make anything you want.”
“Anything?”
At my suspicious look, Hastan snorted.
“Of course. Weapons, armor, accessories, consumables, and even things you couldn’t imagine. Well, it’ll be easier to understand by trying it yourself rather than listening to me talk. Make something once as a test.”
At that moment, a circular magic circle in front of Hastan emitted light, and a window appeared before my eyes.
‘This is a crafting window, isn’t it?’
Just as Hastan had said, the categories were divided into weapons, armor, accessories, and even ordinary cosmetic items.
Among them, I selected the glowing slot at the very top: a healing potion.
[Materials will be provided by default during the tutorial.]
To be honest, materials were so common that it was an unnecessary service, but I wasn’t going to complain about getting something for free.
With a light heart, I pressed proceed with crafting.
“You chose a low-grade potion. Good. Now put your hand inside this circle and concentrate.”
“M-Me?”
“Then who’s supposed to do it, if not you? Hurry up and put it in!”
Wait, weren’t you going to make it for me?
But under Hastan’s glare, I had no choice but to put my hand inside the magic circle…
And at that moment, a holographic Jenga tower appeared before my eyes.
‘What… is this?’
Why had Jenga appeared?
Just as my head filled with questions…
[Complete the blocks without letting them collapse.]
‘Don’t tell me this is what he meant by me making it?’
I’d thought that since it was crafting, it would simply be made for me, but to think they’d make me play a minigame.
This damned game really had never let me off easy even once.
And it wasn’t as if I could just do it half-heartedly, either.
[Upon success, a bonus ability will be granted.]
Because of the window that appeared before my eyes.
Still, the reward’s pretty clear, at least.
In order to check what this bonus was, I carefully stacked the Jenga pieces.
Stacking a Jenga tower of about four levels was very easy.
Thanks to that, I quickly completed a perfect Jenga tower and was able to return to reality.
“Good, done.”
From the light of the magic circle appeared the potion I had selected.
“Now, check it.”
I nodded and checked the potion’s information.
[Special Low-Grade Health Potion]
[Instant Recovery] Restores 500 HP immediately upon use.
[Continuous Healing] Restores an additional 10 HP per second for 60 seconds. (600 total recovery)
I swallowed my breath.
“Wow… What is this?”
The instant recovery effect was no different from before, but the newly added continuous healing effect caught my eye.
I couldn’t believe an effect like this had been added simply because I’d succeeded at a minigame.
‘Then if I succeed at the minigame when crafting equipment…’
My heart, which had gone cold, began to beat again.
There was no way I could sit still with this kind of dopamine in front of me.
“I want to try crafting something else right away!”
“Then choose.”
The magic circle shone, and the crafting window appeared before my eyes once more.
Among the categories, I selected armor and looked through the items I could craft.
‘Plate, light armor, leather, cloth… Nothing is clearly fixed.’
On top of that, unlike the healing potion earlier, the materials that went in were up to the player.
Just as my head started throbbing over what I should choose…
“What are you trying to craft?”
“Armor, for now. But I don’t know what would be good.”
“Then go with leather. You have the materials you got from killing the tiger, don’t you?”
“That’s right. I had those.”
At Naira’s suggestion, I remembered the materials I had forgotten and selected leather armor crafting.
‘I’ll put in the leather I got from the Lord of the Forest here.’
Among the materials I’d obtained from defeating the Zone 3 boss this time, I added the World Tree’s Vine and started crafting.
This time, too, a minigame appeared before me.
But it wasn’t the Jenga game I’d played when making the potion.
‘This is… a one-stroke drawing!’
A drawing with a square inside a large rhombus, and diagonals drawn inside it as well.
While I was flustered, a window appeared.
[Complete the drawing without touching a line you have already passed.]
[Time limit: 20 seconds]
‘What, a time limit?’
No, there wasn’t anything like a time limit earlier!
But I had no time to complain.
The moment the window appeared, the countdown that had been at 20:00 began decreasing rapidly.
‘I need to find the starting point first.’
Before I knew it, 15 seconds remained.
After briefly scanning the figure, my gaze went to the point where all five lines converged.
I wasn’t certain, but I remembered hearing back when I was a student that you should look for odd-degree vertices.
And so I tried connecting point to point.
Tick, tick.
10 seconds remaining.
I quickly erased the wrong possibilities from my mind.
Tick, tick.
5 seconds remaining.
A path began to appear through the thick fog.
I followed that path and quickly connected the lines.
Tick, tick.
1 second remaining.
“Complete!”
A bright light emerged from the completed one-stroke drawing.
[Correct!]
[Great Success in Crafting!]
[The material’s latent potential will be maximized!]
[The appearance will change according to the player’s body type!]
Windows appeared one after another as I succeeded at the minigame.
At the same time, my vision returned to normal, and I was faced with the magic circle emitting a fierce light.
“Ooh…!”
An exclamation naturally burst from my lips.
From the gradually fading light, the silhouette of the armor I had created began to reveal itself.
Everyone held their breath, waiting for the birth of the item.
And finally, the moment the light completely settled…
“This is.”
An item belonging only to me appeared in the world.
“My clothes?”
It was…
***
The Birth Festival.
A festival of the dark elves to console the dead World Tree and pray for the birth of a new one.
But it was a festival that had ceased to be held at some point.
Because they had learned that the reason they could not return to their homeland was the World Tree, which had become the enemy of the dark elves.
However, the World Tree, once the result of their past mistake, had fallen by human hands and returned to the earth.
Maharani decided to reopen the festival that had been forgotten in everyone’s memories.
It would also serve as a way to express gratitude to the humans who had returned the World Tree to nature.
The news that the Birth Festival would be held spread quickly among the dark elves.
Because even if none of them showed it, they had all been hoping for the birth of a new World Tree.
Because of that, Emily’s party, caught up in the commotion, had to spend quite a long time getting from the plaza to the shopping district.
Even for them, forcing their way through the excited crowd was quite difficult.
If they used force, it wasn’t impossible, but they had no desire to make enemies of the dark elves for no reason.
The problem was that the news seemed to have reached the shopping district as well, and this place too was full of excited dark elves.
Looking at the scene, Emily sighed.
“What’s the big deal about one festival opening, for everyone to act like this?”
Just then, a dark elf passing by her side got angry.
“Ahem! You must not know because you’re human, but this is no ordinary festival! It’s a heart-pounding festival where the fighting spirits of warriors clash!”
“What does that even mean?”
“Hooh… Now that I look, you seem to be a warrior too.”
After confirming the spear on Emily’s back, the dark elf slowly raised the corner of his mouth.
“Aren’t you curious? About what level your skills are in this place.”
“Well… I guess I’m at least a little curious.”
“This Birth Festival is precisely the chance to find out.”
He spoke while knocking his two fists together.
“The greatest event of the Birth Festival is, without question, a fair and honorable match. A sacred arena of combat where one must defeat the opponent solely through one’s own skill, without anyone’s interference. Test your strength there.”
Emily and Mugi were both gamers as well.
They, too, were interested in what level their skills were at.
But Emily tilted her head and raised a question.
“But I’m human.”
“That doesn’t matter. Any warrior can participate. That’s the true charm of the Birth Festival.”
The dark elf patted Emily on the shoulder and waved his hand.
“Think it over. I’ll be cheering for you. Well then.”
Emily and Mugi stared blankly at the spot where he had disappeared, then opened their mouths.
“Do you think this is the festival Arca was talking about?”
“Probably. I don’t know what exactly is supposed to be the present, though. Whatever. For now, let’s find Naira first.”
Deciding to worry about the details when the time came, the two moved through the crowd to find Naira, who should have been waiting.
It didn’t take long for them to spot Naira.
And then.
“Huh? There’s someone next to her.”
“It’s Ian. Looks like they ran into each other while wandering around. But…”
Emily and Mugi approached them and stared at Ian with wide eyes.
“Wow, amazing. What’s with your outfit, Ian?”
“Y-You look incredibly pretty!”
Even Mugi, of all people, revealed her emotions, because Ian’s current appearance was that captivating.
A blush rose to Ian’s cheeks.
“D-Do I? Haha…”