There is Something Wrong with This Game

ℙ017 – Mana Metalcasting

Hecate practiced her new metalcasting method for a whole 3 hours non-stop.

'A new method that hasn't appeared in the game. Let's call this method, Mana Metalcasting!'

This method of metal casting is accomplished by carefully controlling mana into various shapes, condensing it and using it as a mold for the liquid metal until it cooled. There is no need for any other medium such as sand or resin, and the mold can disperse on its own when the cooling process is completed, saving the time for the finishing process.

But of course this method has a drawback, which is that it requires concentration and consumes a lot of MP to maintain solidity until the metal cools down. The bigger the mold, the bigger the MP consumption.

Fortunately, Hecate spent all her stats on INT, making her maximum MP very high. Otherwise the mold will disperse prematurely before the metal fully cooled down. If that happened, the end product will undoubtedly failed and turned into a crooked shape.

Hecate familiarized herself with the method. Many metal objects with various shapes without any usability was created as she practiced. Those metal junks were simply melted back into liquid metal and reused again for her practice.

And if her MP is low, she just sit calmly and let Meditate passive skill regenerate her MP faster.

Soon after, Hecate thought of the correct way to utilize Mana Metalcasting.

She opened her interface and searched her Skill List, and then she clicked Blueprint Research.

A new window appeared, and the content within that window was the culmination of Hecate's successful craft up until now, recorded as the Blueprint, and many others she had gathered from various sources, such as quest rewards or from the internet.

Blueprints were the lifeline of all production subclasses and they were valuable knowledge. It was also a common sight to see people selling and trading blueprints in the marketplace.

Not all of the blueprint is good, but when it is good, its value would soar to the point that it exceeds a real estate. It was said that the Castle blueprints of a Master Architect were bought for 100 million in a real world auction.

Though sometimes, there are kind(?) people that shares their(?) blueprint on the internet.

Hecate clicked one of the blueprint and printed the content into an empty paper. She took out some measuring tools and began to adjust the design drawings on the paper to her needs.

She then adjusted the mana into the shape of the desired part and used it as a mold, then poured liquid metal into it. The process took less than 10 seconds. It's just that the metal cooling process takes most of the time.

After that, everything was like copy-paste process.

Unfortunately, Hecate could only use this method to create basic shape parts. As for making complex parts, she still needed to use some processing procedures.

Nevertheless, it was still a breakthrough method that greatly cut down the time required for Hecate to craft an item.

Hecate spent another hour to craft some items.

Even though Hecate is an Archwitch, that doesn't mean she can only use magic to hunt.

Ascension is a VRMMO game with high freedom of action. Players was not restricted about utilizing other method than using the game skills for their hunting. In other words, throwing bomb or using trap is still a valid action.

Though, Hecate didn't have any trap related skills since she was not a Hunter or a Ranger class. She won't get any of the benefit of those skills, like bonus damage or increase area effect when she uses a trap item.

As for the other item...

It was an equip that was deemed more suited for Assassin and its upgrade classes by the system. She used the design of a motorized pulley available in the internet and utilized a 4m Steel Wire to craft this Grappling Hook.

Normally, Hecate can't use this equip because of its class restriction.

However in Ascension, the crafter has a special privilege. They can bypass the requirements of the equip that they have crafted by themselves, but if they do, they only get half of the effect from the said equip.

Though such penalty did not matter too much for Hecate.

'Well, at least the mechanism still seems to work as intended. All that left is just a live test!'

Hecate nodded in satisfaction with the result and crafted more Landmines again. Then, after 20 or so Landmines were crafted, suddenly she got a window notification.

"Oh...?"

Some Extra Skills appeared!

It has been a long time since she received this notification. After she got the Meditate skill 2 years ago, she hasn't got any Extra Skill until now.

"Back then, I was too focused on leveling up and ignored Extra Skills..."

Hecate sighed. Well, that itself can't be helped.

Ascension has a lot of skills that can be learned. However, most of the skills that can be learned requires the learner to have a specific Subclass before they can learn the said skills.

If you want to learn Cooking skill, then you must have the Chef Subclass first.

If you want to learn Farming skill, then you must become a Farmer first.

The max amount of subclasses that players can have is only 3.. After this number is reached, they will not be able to add any Subclass again unless they delete one or more to make a space. And if they do, they loose all of the Skills of that deleted subclass.

Game Skills played an important role in this game world. Without it, the players won't be able to do much in the game.

For example, without the Cooking skill, the players will not be able to cook no matter how skilled they are in the real world. The same can be said for the natives.¹ [Just think of Log Horizon anime]

Skills outside the Subclass category is called Extra Skills and can be learned regardless of the subclasses. However, these skills were rare and even if someone found its learning condition, they would surely want to keep it to themselves.

nove(l)bi(n.)com

Hecate was contemplating about the usability of her new skills.

Since she got Precision Mana Control, she can change the shape of the Mana Stones that she creates. And Mana Stones just look like a normal white stone if they are not used as an energy source.

And since she could control the MP used when creating a Mana Stone, she can use the skill as many times as she wants.

'Huh? Does this mean I can create unlimited materials as long as I have MP?'

To test her hypothesis, she used the skill immediately.

"Mana Stone Creation - Shape: Brick - MP used: 100..."

In that instant, a blue light come out from her hand and condensed itself slowly into a shape of a white brick. But the light suddenly stopped midway before the brick takes a quarter of its shape.

It was not hard to guess the reason.

"It seems the MP used was too low... Then, 1000 MP!"

The light continued to shine and sure enough, the process completed smoothly.

A white brick successfully appeared in her hand. But when Hecate saw its details, she can only be disappointed.

"Only 11 durability... that's too brittle..."

The brick was no different than a clay mold. If she really used it as a parts of her craft items, who knows when the items will malfunctioned and break.

"Then let's test if I use 30000 MP... Mana Stone Creation!"

Another brick appeared in her hand, but this time the brick was different.

Hecate smiled in delight. It turns out that the MP used affects the durability of the brick.

She then created two more Mana Stones but with 10000 MP and 20000 MP respectively. The result was the brick with 10000 MP got 99 durability, and the one with 20000 MP got 198 durability.

From the look of it, the brick got 1 durability every 100 MP used, so 30000 MP gives around 300 durability.

"As for the lost numbers, perhaps the shape also influencing the result. The bigger the shape, the more MP is needed."

With that, she further understood her Skill.

While Hecate was occupied with her thoughts, a small log in notification caught her eye.

It seems she was too preoccupied with her research that she forgot the time.

A day has passed since the battle of betrayal and the Death Penalty of her guildmates has expired. They should have respawned in their Save Point by now one by one.

Hecate stuffed the Magic Bricks into her inventory. She then hit her cheek and adjusted her facial expression.

"It's the time for the guild meeting."

• Low Grade: 1 - 9999
• Mid Grade: 10000 - 99999
• High Grade: 100000 - 999999
• Superior Grade: > 1m