Chapter 26
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Master Craftsman - 6
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The first floor was a small-scale village.
It seemed like they had only the bare minimum facilities and functions to prevent any major issues—nothing more.
One hunting ground. One training hall. One smithy.
Everything was singular and essential.
Like interlocking gears, all things depended on each other while forming a continuous cycle.
For instance, the metals Harman worked with came from a single mine and a single miner.
"Green-series ore?"
"I need it urgently. Would it be hard to get right away?"
"Well... Any other color, maybe, but green isn't common."
Blue, red—even yellow were plentiful, but of all things, green.
Things might be different on other floors, but there were no jewelers here.
No specialists for gems, so he'd planned to gather materials himself and give it a shot, but things weren't going his way.
"Take this for now, at least?"
"This one's colorless."
The miner handed over a handful of transparent ores.
"Not high hardness, not heat-resistant. No special effects, no traits worth using in a weapon."
"So it's completely useless?"
"The only reason it has any value at all is its crystal-clear transparency—good for ornaments."
"Thanks, but I need green, so even if you give me this, I can't use it."
"Couldn't you just get some green dye and paint the outside?"
Not a bad idea.
For dye, one place came to mind where he could source materials.
"Where?"
"Gotta pay, though."
Not free, huh.
The field that used dye the most was, without a doubt, clothing.
Running a clothing shop, she surely had green dye on hand.
"Got any green dye?"
"Not like we don't, no."
"Of course we have some... but what do you need it for?"
Deina even misunderstood, wondering if he'd suddenly taken an interest in sewing after following her around.
When he explained it was for coating ore, her response was even greater bewilderment.
"Why make a green gem? For a proposal?"
"Proposal out of nowhere?"
"What else are gems for but gifting?"
One answer led to yet another question.
"What's that supposed to mean? Why the sudden sword-making kick?"
"It might help jog my memory."
"Can't follow this conversation. Fine, whatever—I'm over it. Just take it and go."
He asked the price of the dye, but Deina waved him off, saying that amount was free even without a word.
Several attempts followed.
Various challenges to color the transparent gems.
He had to infer the gem's shape too, so he didn't expect finished results right away.
He roughly carved a piece of ore and painted dye on it with a brush.
First, test if it could be dyed at all.
"Hm..."
It seemed to take color at first, but as time passed, the dye cleanly slid off.
The transparent appearance remained unchanged.
"Maybe soak it fully in dye and wait?"
A long wait yielded only proof of the transparent ore's remarkable invariance.
Even after leaving it in dye for ages, the ore hadn't changed hue one bit.
No way to tell it apart from untouched ore.
"That's 'Vitriss.' Non-porous, so no amount of soaking will work."
Harman, who'd been watching his work from the start, chimed in from behind.
"Harman, when'd you wake up?"
"Just now."
"Feeling okay?"
"Fit as a fiddle."
"..."
The brazen reply left him speechless, but he'd pushed too hard and made things worse himself—no grounds to complain.
Their pointless efforts continued unabated.
The only change was adding a new chapter: dyeing.
"You called this ore Vitriss. Ever worked with it?"
"Not as material, from what I recall. Though I can't trust my memories anymore."
No headaches meant Harman truly hadn't used Vitriss before.
If he had, it wouldn't have been as weapon material anyway—useless for that.
The tower wouldn't tamper with memories of specific ores.
Harman only knew the name and basic chemical properties.
Like how Vitriss deformed easily under heat.
"Why not melt it all down, mix in color, and re-harden?"
As Harman suggested, the transparent ore melted easily in the furnace flames.
It looked just like clear water, but stirring required serious force due to its viscosity.
He dumped in the dye from Deina.
"Dye's the problem this time."
"Turned straight brown."
The dye had degraded from the heat.
The blue-green was gone; the vat held only dark brown.
"Got any other ideas?"
"...Nothing but wait."
Wait for the miner to dig up green ore, or buy something with a green gem and extract it.
No one collected gems as luxury; everyone here bought only necessities. That hit hard today.
"Ellie."
"Yes! Adventurer sir!"
As always, without fail.
He visited the request office today too.
Until a gem procurement chance arose, smithy work was on indefinite hold.
Abstract hints offered no clear leads; the green gem was the sole concrete clue to lost memories.
Slime Extermination 《COMMON》
📍 Goal: Slime Kills (0/5), Slime Cores (72/5)
🎁 Reward: 500 Coins, 200 EXP
"Mind if I ask a favor?"
"Of course! What is it?"
"Well..."
While others headed to the second floor, he stayed, repeating the same requests—so villagers' views of him were never good from the start.
An adventurer stuck at slimes-only.
Someone afraid of challenges.
Cowardly. Timid.
Natural, really.
He'd never shared his life story, so their judgment from fragments was fair.
Changing perceptions didn't take long.
No deep negativity; building neighborly ties one by one solved it simply.
When had it shifted?
They remembered him less as a failed adventurer, more as a late settler.
His title had become Earthbound Spirit before he knew it.
"Curious about slime traits? Weak points?"
Ellie had actually been the hardest to convince on this front.
She'd witnessed his bizarre acts.
Not climbing the tower—the least adventurer-like behavior—stoked her daily worries.
Guessing at mental scars, she tiptoed around triggering them.
She never mentioned his self-decapitation, even once, despite the curiosity.
Her overdone nonchalance felt more awkward, but unavoidable.
He hadn't explained his traits or events to her back then.
From her view, his motives were unknowable.
Fortunately, after weeks, even she grasped part of it.
His request office visits weren't unstable madness, but natural routine.
Staying here meant he truly saw the village as home.
Daily repeats gave minimal daily accomplishment.
Not going mad from this; it kept madness at bay.
They understood: her daily receptionist routine no different from his repeat requests.
"Or asking the way to the damp forest?"
"Nah."
"True, you probably know requests better than me now."
So, conclusion...
They were close enough for slightly unreasonable requests.
"Those green gems on the request board—mind if I take just those?"
"Adventurer sir..."
Not gonna fly, huh?
Ellie's eyes reverted to initial worry.
Pity for the afflicted.
That amount limited shape trials anyway.
Mass production method needed.
"If anything's hard, tell me, okay?"
"..."
Just a long-shot ask.
Shine-musk colored slimes.
Catching the hoppers one by one brought realization.
"These guys... aren't they green?"
A lovely pale green.
Heating wouldn't discolor them, right?
"Oh."
Materials,
found.
"Adventurer sir! Hunting took longer today... Kyaa!"
"Ellie, why the scream?"
"Adventurer sir's getting eaten by a slime!!!"
Ah, these things.
He brushed off the ones clinging to his cheeks and shoulders.
"Just covered in slime goo."
"Oh, right... Scared me."
"With all the extermination requests I've cleared, you think I'd get attacked by slimes?"
Ellie reluctantly nodded.
No adventurer had cleared more slime requests than him.
He'd hunted dragons and demons in the past—what's that?
"My quests are just five slimes. How many'd you hunt to end up like that?"
"Enough."
Slime Extermination 《COMMON》
📍 Goal: Slime Kills (5/5), Slime Cores (1934/5)
🎁 Reward: 500 Coins, 200 EXP
He gathered materials to his heart's content.
Enough to try every gem shape imaginable, with plenty left over.