Vol. 13 - Ch. 750 - Synthesizing advanced-grade materials & Hunt for Advanced Equipment

The way to forge advanced equipment was simple. The crafter must have advanced skill. In fact, this was the only way to properly process advanced-grade materials.

But, like everything, following fundamentals was merely one part of the entire picture. You ought to add one or two twists like 'secret ingredients' to forge truly quality equipment.

And in this case, the secret ingredient was Hannah.

"My heart is so racing right now~."

"Relax, it's easy. You just have to do your alchemy like usual. For now,  I want you to synthesize these advanced-grade materials from Marie-senpai, and the intermediate-grade boss materials."

We're currently at the Supreme Alchemy Atelier Room of Hannah, her workbench littered with all sorts of materials.

Some of them were from Marie-senpai, and honestly, she'd surprised me by arranging that many ores of Mithril—already refined to silver-bluish ingots—an advanced-grade material. 

Ah, wait. King Absolute had been collecting materials in the «Misty Plateau Dungeon». They must've put them on sale and eventually reached Marie-senpai. 

The ones present at the moment were I, Hannah, Marie-senpai, Aruru. Simply, the production job holders. Through their practice, they'd sufficiently raise their skills, and their levels were just at the right spot. After affirming that, I concluded it was time to seriously start with advanced equipment.

This was a preparation meet for that.

"I still found it hard to unbelieve~. I mean, I can stitch together materials to make them bigger, but alchemy, huh."

"Exactly yer words, Marie-senpai. I do make a bunch of alloys, but mixing the ingredients? That sounds incomprehensible to me."

"Hehehe, because that's one of the forte of «Alchemy Master»."

I replied to Aruru and Marie-senpai as the latter inquired with interest. 

Every production job had their specifics, and how their skills work on materials. Some could stitch together materials to make a bigger piece, while others could stir and blend them together. You could also give them a specific color by adding a dye. 

For reference «Blacksmith»'s forte was alloy. They'd liquify different sort of metals, remove their impurities, and add in some percentage of other metal to make a new one. On the other hand, «Dress Maker» category job uses monster's material where they glue or stitch together with other materials to craft new equipment. 

But, neither of them had the ability to dissolve or liquify monster's materials. And that's where «Alchemist» stepped in. An alchemist could synthesize multiple monster materials to raise their grade, or even improve their grade rank from lower to higher. 

It was just like how they could synthesize many «Mana Stones (S)» into «Mana Stone (L)». And that was how they could promote intermediate-grade boss materials to advanced-grade materials. A better grade of materials means a better final product.

"Alright, let's begin then! I've already told you how to do that, Hannah, so take this chance to review it."

"U-understood!"

"Start with «Magical Hide of Dark Horned Beast» from rare boss «Brenmor»."

"Sheesh, bringing out the best right off the bat. That's Brave for you~."

"Yeah, this completely goes against the meaning of review... And isn't this hide supposedly a rare drop from the strongest rare boss among all intermediate dungeons?"

"I-I think we should begin with something low-rank, Zephyr-kun."

"Have faith in yourself, Hannah. You can do it!"

"You're believing too much!"

Hannah grumbled as I gave her a thumbs up. 

I was sure she could do it. Besides, we weren't yet done grinding «Brenmor». We could always get them again, and honestly, her worries were for nothing. She had used this skill hundreds of times already. 

To expect a fumble from Hannah would be to think the sun was going to rise from the west. Unthinkable. Her skill was already maxed too. 

"After adding «Magical Hide» to the alchemy pot, pour in «Neutraliser: Black». Ah, the high-grade one."

"D-Done. Added them."

"Now add these advanced-grade materials Marie-senpai arranged. This one, that, and that. Any objection, Marie-senpai?"

"Not at all. They did cost a bit and there are only fixed quantities, but the downgraded equipment I crafted from the advanced-grade recipe I received from you is selling well~. It's your discretion. Though I do hope to craft better equipment in exchange."

"I can't thank you enough, Marie-senpai! And so, Hannah, keep adding them~."

"A-alright!"

"The idea is to add the quality of advanced-grade monster materials into the base from rare monster materials. And since «Brenmor» is almost on par with an advanced-rank boss, the synergy should make absorption of that power easy."

"Using my s-skill than! «Magic Pot»!"

«Magic Cauldron» was a fourth order skill. The instant Hannah invoked it, the alchemy cauldron released an intense, mysterious light. And when it subsided, only the magical hide was left behind, appearing slightly bigger than before. 

I promptly «Appraise» it with «Juvenile Dragon».

"—«Magical Hide of Dark Horned Beast (True Material). You did it, Hannah! It's a success!"

I'd no doubt this hide was on par with an advanced-grade boss material. The appraisal properly graded it as one too. The equipment using this would surely be advanced-rank quality.

"I-It's done? Phew... I really thought my heart was going to explode. What if it was a fumble......"

"I-I am more shocked at Mister suddenly showing «Juvenile Dragon». It's the greatest asset of our guild too... When get you even acquire this?"

"Yesterday!"

"No way......"

Dark clouds suddenly hovered over Marie-senpai's expression. I wonder why?

"Anyway, so you got the gist now, Hannah. I am leaving you to work on the rest of the materials then. Here's the combined material list. All you've to remember is picking materials of the same category. Using otherwise will cause a fumble, so that's the only part you have to look out for."

"Understood."

The list was specifically to synthesize «Bumor»'s material into True-material quality. A fumble typically meant the material too would end up destroying. 

Hannah could take care of the rest. All she'd needed was someone to show her the path. 

After Hannah, I turned to Aruru and Marie-senpai.

"You don't have to say, I can figure the rest, Mister. You want me to use these materials to forge equipment, right?"

"You bet, so I'm counting on you, Marie-senpai, Aruru! Just remember to use only materials Hannah is synthesising, then follow the recipe, and that's all. Start with my equipment first!"

"I know, I hear ya! Sheesh, I really might die from too many surprises one day.  Alright, Aruru and I are going to forge ya something great!"

"Yeah, just wait for it, Zephyr onii-san. We already know the rest on how to make them."

"Nice spirit. I am counting on you!"

Had it been in game, it was a simple matter of navigating through a few clicks, and voila. Alas, in reality, I had no idea about the process so I left that to professionals. 

Among all the materials, only mithril ores were advanced-grade from the start, so I'd Aruru refine them. They're outside of Hannah's expertise. 

Still, the first advanced-grade equipment set would be mine, eh? Honestly, that was unexpected but I was hyped up! 

After leaving the instructions behind, I didn't linger in the professional's work, and left the room to begin another round of dungeon grind. After all, this was just the starting! The more materials, the better. Plus, gotta grind for those recipes.

My target was—advanced-grade equipment's full set recipes! 

Of course, that wasn't easy, so it was time for our trump card—«Treasure Hunter» Nico! It was precisely in anticipation of this day that I had instructed her to get the fifth order skill «Equipment Set Drop Rate» to LV10 as well.

I really wanted to get Sierra, Lana, Ester up to advanced equipment as soon as possible too. And that's also why we're going to challenge «Twilight Altar Dungeon» with two parties!