Chapter 13

When I logged in and woke up, I enjoyed the pleasant sensation for a while.

Last night was tough.

The number of drops from the Evil Ants I stripped from their corpses was far from ordinary.

I didn’t have the luxury to appraise each item one by one, so I left the collected items in the workshop.

Today, I was instructed by my master to sort out those drops from the moment I woke up.

Moreover, I had plans to deliver potions to the Adventurer's Guild.

I couldn’t afford to waste any time.

《There is an operation information. Do you want to check it?》

This always happens at the worst times.

I marked the message with a 'bookmark' in the upper right corner to save it for later and only checked the subject.

《Stat Update Notice: Data updated to the 3rd day of service, added skills to the open data items!》

I interpreted it as non-urgent.

I would read the content later.

Next was the message from Reina that I hadn’t read yesterday.

‘The arrows I made with the fletching are ready! I’ll send you the appraisal results!’

The data showed a list of comparison data.

Adding fletching to the arrows didn’t seem to cause any significant changes in their names, just a plus sign.

It started with the rabbit horn arrows.

※Using Grassland Hawk’s wings

【Weapon Item: Arrow】Rabbit Horn Arrow+ Quality C Rarity 2

AP4 Damage 1 Weight 0+ Durability 40 Range +7%

An arrow with a rabbit horn at the nock.

It has moderate penetration and is easy to use.

※Using Silver Chicken’s wings

【Weapon Item: Arrow】Rabbit Horn Arrow+ Quality C Rarity 2

AP4 Damage 1+ Weight 0+ Durability 40 Range +3%

An arrow with a rabbit horn at the nock.

It has moderate penetration and is easy to use.

※Regular fletching: For comparison

【Weapon Item: Arrow】Rabbit Horn Arrow Quality C- Rarity 2

AP4 Damage 1 Weight 0+ Durability 40 Range ±0%

An arrow with a rabbit horn at the nock.

It has moderate penetration and is easy to use.

Next were the Evil Ant arrows.

The comparison data for these was a bit more interesting.

※Using Grassland Hawk’s wings

【Weapon Item: Arrow】Evil Ant Arrow+ Quality C- Rarity 2

AP8 Damage 0+ Weight 0+ Durability 30 Range +20% Slight continuous damage

An arrow with an Evil Ant’s stinger at the nock.

It is designed to increase penetration and cause bleeding damage.

※Using Silver Chicken’s wings

【Weapon Item: Arrow】Evil Ant Arrow+ Quality C- Rarity 2

AP8 Damage 1 Weight 0+ Durability 30 Range +15% Slight continuous damage

An arrow with an Evil Ant’s stinger at the nock.

It is designed to increase penetration and cause bleeding damage.

※Regular fletching: For comparison

【Weapon Item: Arrow】Evil Ant Arrow Quality C- Rarity 2

AP8 Damage 0+ Weight 0+ Durability 30 Range +10% Slight continuous damage

An arrow with an Evil Ant’s stinger at the nock.

It is designed to increase penetration and cause bleeding damage.

The combination of Evil Ant stingers and Silver Chicken wings seemed to produce arrows with good balance.

Both can be obtained in the forest.

Finally, the comparison data for the bat tooth arrows.

※Using Grassland Hawk’s wings

【Weapon Item: Arrow】Bat Tooth Arrow+ Quality C+ Rarity 2

AP6 Damage 1 Weight 0+ Durability 60 Range +25%

An arrow with a bat’s tooth at the nock.

The shape of the nock improves its power and range.

※Using Silver Chicken’s wings

【Weapon Item: Arrow】Bat Tooth Arrow+ Quality C+ Rarity 2

AP6 Damage 1+ Weight 0+ Durability 60 Range +17%

An arrow with a bat’s tooth at the nock.

The shape of the nock improves its power and range.

※Regular fletching: For comparison

【Weapon Item: Arrow】Bat Tooth Arrow Quality C+ Rarity 2

AP6 Damage 1 Weight 0+ Durability 60 Range +10%

An arrow with a bat’s tooth at the nock.

The shape of the nock improves its power and range.

The combination of Evil Ant stingers and Silver Chicken wings also seemed to produce arrows with good balance.

The range increase was more significant with the bat tooth combination.

It might be a synergistic effect.

With the attack range extended this much, the fighting style might become more versatile.

Regardless of the combination, it would certainly enhance combat power.

Finally, there was Reina’s comment.

‘The results haven’t been made public yet. I need to show them to Keith and get his opinion!’

How much would these arrows enhance the combat power of archers?

I, who lack the bow skill, can’t really grasp the value.

Depending on the situation, adventurers might flood the western forest to secure materials.

At the same time, the number of victims of those ants might increase.

Would the area around my master’s house become noisy?

When I went down to the workshop, my master was sleeping on the workbench again.

He wasn’t lying face down but was lying on the workbench.

A blanket was spread on the bench, and he was covered with another blanket.

It must have been due to the Metal Skin job.

The workshop still had a faint smell of alcohol.

The workbench was wide, and even with my master lying down, there was plenty of space.

But that space was almost filled with the carapaces and stingers of Evil Ants.

Since there were enough chairs, I decided to use them instead of the workbench.

I started by sorting the carapaces by quality.

I found a mysterious item as soon as I started appraising.

【Material Item】Evil Ant Carapace Raw Material Quality X Rarity - Weight 0+

The carapace of an Evil Ant.

What is Quality X?

Is the rarity masked data?

Does Quality X mean it can’t be evaluated?

Or is the masked data due to my appraisal level being insufficient?

But with Evil Ants?

It’s a confusing situation.

The Evil Ant carapaces I started sorting were mostly of this type.

I silently appraised and sorted them.

I also found items of the same quality as I had seen before.

【Material Item】Evil Ant Carapace Raw Material Quality C Rarity 1 Weight 0+

The carapace of an Evil Ant. Small, light, and fairly durable.

The description was different from the Quality X carapace.

There were also a few Quality C- carapaces.

In the end, I had 17 Quality C, 2 Quality C-, and 82 Quality X carapaces.

When I compared them closely, the Quality X carapaces seemed to have a slightly different color.

Compared to the other qualities, the Quality X carapaces reflected a bit less light.

The surface texture was different due to the light reflection.

The difference was subtle and could only be noticed by comparing them side by side.

I sorted the Evil Ant stingers in the same way.

There were more of them in total than the carapaces.

As a result, I had 32 Quality C, 7 Quality C-, and 157 Quality X stingers.

There were so many!

Last night, I, Voluf, and Helix must have killed more than 10 ants, but less than 20, right?

We were just trying to drive them away without being surrounded.

I must have killed fewer than 5 ants.

My master’s gatekeeper is strong.

The difference in level is too great.

The workshop door opened, and Metal Skin brought breakfast.

She arranged it on the empty space of the workbench.

Hmm?

It seems there was the bear meat dish I saw yesterday.

“Huh? Is it already morning?”

My master woke up.

Unlike yesterday, he seemed to be more conscious.

He must have reacted to the smell of the food.

When our eyes met, he showed a somewhat embarrassed reaction.

Maybe he has a good appetite for his favorite food.

Or maybe he’s just a big eater.

“Hmm? Are you done sorting already?”

“Yes.”

“Let me see, how does it look?”

He quickly looked through the sorted items on the six chairs and asked me a question.

“Can you tell what’s different about the most numerous items?”

“No, I could only tell that something was different.”

“Hmm.”

My master took one Evil Ant carapace and one stinger of Quality X and placed them on the workbench.

Metal Skin put the remaining Quality X carapaces and stingers into my master’s Item Box.

“The rest are yours.”

“Thank you.”

“And these carapaces and stingers too. But don’t sell them.”

“?”

My master started eating without saying anything more.

Why did he tell me not to sell