Chapter 1.2

Chapter 1-2

I don’t know what your impression was, Toudou-san, but Craftin’ Skills are, other than Attack skills when hunting down the big boys, take the shortest time in total to raise their Skill Levels. It’s real, real, simple. Everything except the work is mindnumbin’ and hard, that once you get the materials and all sorted out, it’s a pretty quick climb to Advanced. Other than a few exceptions, you gotta work on them all at the same time to get the materials, anyway.」

「Still… You know?」

「There’s more tricks to it. Once you get all the Novice Craftin’ skills to 50, you get a skill called Making Mastery that shortens work time and load, increases success rate and yield, along with the amount of materials gained when gatherin’. Once you get this skill, the times you can use those skills skyrocket, so it’s so much easier to get your Skill Levels up.」

「I had no idea…」

「It’s not known too well. I mean, there was a guy who didn’t know about, or missed this skill and couldn’t get past Intermediate. So, if you put like two years into it after getting this skill, as long as someone helps you hunt materials that is, anyone could max out the skills you listed in Advanced.」

All Haruna could take away was that this particular skill seemed backwards. The design seemed malicious in holding back the skill until the worst part was over. Through the Craftsmen community, he knew that forty players had gained some sort of Extra Skill (in a non-harvesting skill). Fifteen of them have maxed out all major Crafting skills.

While Hiroshi had the most Extra Skills out of all the craftsmen in the game, there was one more lunatic who had mastered all Crafting skills (other than Extra Skills), which was more than Hiroshi could say, and this person also had the Extra Skills for Enchanting and Construction as well.

Long story short, Crafting in this game becomes easier as a player levels up.

「Backwards, ain’t it? But if this skill was too easy to get, Craftin’ could get too easy to do… So I think it works out in the end.」

「I guess you’re right…」

「That’s better for me, anyway. Now for the last trick… Carpentry, Ship Buildin’, Construction, Farmin’ and Fishin’ all benefit more than other skills from leavin’ them alone. 」

「Really?」

「Yeah. Especially for Carpentry, Ship Buildin’, and Construction, since any task can take five consecutive in-game days once you’re intermediate, so for these skills, they calculate the in-game time rather than real time for leaving the skill on when you’re not logged in. They don’t take as many uses to get the Skill Levels up, too.」

That made sense to Haruna. Time in Fairtytale Chronicles pass at four times the speed of real life. Any other Skills, when left alone, applied the Skill Level increase to real time, on to which any modifiers from the Skill Level or Making Mastery were applied. If a player wanted to get to Advanced Compounding by leaving the skill on during log outs, it will take more than a few years.

While the Crafting department was rich in hidden gems that make grinding easier, anyone without the mental capacity to devote the entire four hours (the limit to consecutive game-time, built into the VR system itself), or sixteen in-game hours to gathering and processing materials, save for healing Stamina and MP, had no chance of reaching Advanced.

In other words, as long as the player had such a mind, and had the right information, even a high schooler could reach to Hiroshi’s level in, say, five years. For better or worse, the design only calls for simple repetition.

「So, for Construction and Carpentry, I raised them up during high school entrance exams ‘cus I got some jobs building castles for Guilds or NPCs. All I had to do was pop in once a month, and I could package up any adjoinin’ facilities at once, which let the Skill Levels fly up. Besides, only when building a castle or a house, you can set up the Construction on the foundation and the building process at once.」

Before Hiroshi started studying for entrance exams, there were no drama regarding the Craftsmen. So, there was still enough room for these kinds of requests. Most likely, in the current climate of the game, it wouldn’t be that easy.

「You can make castles, too…」

「Castles, too. 」

「It takes ridiculously long, and can’t shorten it much by Makin’ Mastery either, but I could do ten or twenty of ‘em at once, not countin’ the add-on facilities.」

「Did you max out Ship Building the same way?」

「Uh-huh. Toward the end of the high school entrance exam period. That one I raised with a fleet buildin’ quest from an NPC, and one of the guilds I made a castle for joked about making a battleship, so I hopped on it.」

Haruna came to realize she had only been scratching the surface of the game, mentally shaking herself for not knowing about such an exciting quest.

「As for the Extra Skill, it was when I maxed out Forgin’. I took a weird quest from this NPC I got to know through the years, and kept wonderin’ around like I was told until they told me to make a weapon out of these materials I never saw before, ‘front of a temple. Once I did, I got a skill called Weapon of the Gods. So I had a hunch and popped in here and there. Sure ‘nough, I got a bunch through the same process.」

「Oh, that’s like I how I got mine. Mine’s Song of the Gods, by the way.」

「I’ve heard of a self-proclaimed hula dancer who made an armored version of a hula skirt get a skill called Dance of the Gods.」

「I guess the other day-to-day skills are the same way, at this rate.」

「I doubt they’re all that way, but most Extra Skills in the last stage of craftin’ are Something or Other of the Gods.」

Other day-to-day skills included Acting, Comedy, Musical Performance, Laundry, Animal Training, Negotiation, Bartering, and much, much more, but their effects were varying, to say the least. There was even a theatrical guild comprised entirely of players with Carpentry, Acting, and Comedy skills.

Hiroshi once helped build elaborate sets tantamount to those on sketch comedy shows on TV. He had relished the depth of Fairy Tale Chronicles in the flexibility to create such things.

Also, most day-to-day skills aren’t separated in ranks, but simply have a high maximum Skill Level. Still, unlike combat skills, very few people maxed these out. Many are rumored to not even have an Extra Skill.

「I guess those are my cards. As for combat skills, my Attack and Taunt are at Advanced, and I’m past the halfway mark on Smash, and the rest are all Novice.」

「How about magic skills?」

「I just couldn’t get ‘round to it. Other than day-to-day magic that helps Craftin’ and Craftin’ magic themselves, they’re untouched.」

「Okay. But since you have so many Extra Skills, I bet your parameters are through the roof.」

「Yeah, for Armor, Constitution, and Stamina. The rest are well, average for my level, I reckon. Oh, I finished the first chapter of the main quest, and I’m level 124.」

Haruna was shocked all over again hearing his level. Much higher than she thought. It was easy to explain his high Armor, Constitution, and Stamina, since all Crafting skills (even Enchanting and Cooking) for some reason, all raised Armor and Constitution. Perhaps as a carrot to get players through the initial torture of the process, their modifiers were considerable.

The game had no cap on the Character Level of a player, once they beat the first chapter of the main quest, until which they are limited to level 100. Although, even the infamously difficult main quest set the bar for beating the first chapter relatively low.

Any player could beat it smoothly if they played through the game straightforwardly. So, most people dwelled between levels 100 and 200. However, Crafting skills didn’t raise the player’s Character Level, so most craftsmen had lower Character Levels. A friend of Haruna’s gave up on Crafting after going through Novice Compounding, and their levels were already 40 apart at that point.

「Not too bad, ain’t it? I go into dungeons to gather materials, so it went up on it’s own. I’m mostly on the front, or tankin’ actually. So I got a higher Taunt and base Attack.」

「Ah, that makes sense. We might be a good team, after all.」

「Uh-huh? I pegged you for a long-range type.」

「More of a swinger, I guess. I’m in the middle with buffs and debuffs. I have the maximum skills for those, too. Other than the Extra Skills. My level’s 153.」

「I see. How ‘bout your Skill Levels?」

「Only maxed out Goddess’ Blessing. The rest are 70 percent, I think? Just over half way on all the Status Disruptions.」

「That’s impressive.」

Hiroshi was very impressed, hearing that she had mastered the post powerful of the well-known support magic skills. Support magic had weird conditions to raise their Skill Levels, which made them surprising difficult to grind. In addition, their contribution in a party is set low, which made raising the Character Level more difficult than the Skill Levels.

To top it off, it consumed a lot of MP, and often needed to be used multiple times. Many players had given up on these skills along the way. While not as neglected as Crafting, it was still a skill branch that suffered from areas outside of their effects. Of course, it didn’t contribute to Character Exp.

Unlike Attack skills that gain Skill Levels faster by beating up stronger enemies, or Healing skills that grow faster by healing a large amount of damage, Support magic Skill Levels only rouse at a certain rate. This contributed to the small number of players using these skills, despite their importance in a party.

Although, the silver lining to grinding Support magic was that, as the Skill Levels and effects increased, the basic cost of spells never increased (while they even occasionally decreased). That’s why any player who could take care of themselves in combat, and who could use high-level Support magic are wanted more than healers, and often had priority for drop items, as well.

「Goddess’ Healing is halfway, too. And I’ve maxed out some Intermediate Attacking Spells, and Intermediate Magic Sword. My favorite class of weapon is the Rapier, I think.」

「So your edge is the number of cards in your hand. You really are well-balanced.」

「Yep. Someone told me this style was cool, so I got talked into it.」

Seeing Haruna’s embarrassed grin, Hiroshi reevaluated the attractive girl in front of him. He didn’t expect her to have a side that could be talked up to making a big decision. Her looks certainly matched her fighting style of overwhelming the opponent with the number of cards at her hand, with a magic rapier at the center of it, but judging from demeanor at school, he would have pegged her for a patient, not flashy, but careful fighter, using Status Disruptions and slowing down the opponent before going in for the kill.

The Combat skills and Magic skills are the most diverse of all of the skill branches in Fairy Tale Chronicles. Only basic Attack and basic Archery, along with each weapon skill and Arcane Knowledge are separated into Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced.

The other skills, which are more like techniques, provide the player with powerful moves as they meet the requirements for them, in lieu of a rank system. Unlike skills that are divided into ranks, the player doesn’t necessarily need to obtain the weaker skills in the branch as a prerequisite.

The general flow for obtaining moves and spells were to learn them from an NPC after meeting set requirements, but there are other methods. A player could invent their own, retrieve it from artifacts, have another player teach them, etc.

However, inventing a skill was extremely difficult, which only the top three players in the game have achieved, once or twice each. Rumor has it that one of them has an Extra Skill, but the truth of the matter is unknown.

As a side note, the maximum Skill Level of non-ranked Crafting and day-to-day skills were 500, and the rest maxed out at Skill Level 100.

「Other than that, I have a bunch of little skills, the Extra Skill for Singing… And I’ve mastered Cooking.」

「If you got the extra skill for Singin’, why don’t you use Cursin’ Songs?」

「It’s reaches such a wide range and I can’t choose the targets… It’s awkward to use.」

「Right. Come to think, the Hula dancer said the special dance was awkward ‘cus it affected everyone watchin’.」

For better or worse, Fairy Tale Chronicles was the game that put the devil in every detail. As a result, there were more than a few dud skills out there. Despite Singing and Dancing each having an Extra skill, they have devolved into mere tricks of the trade for taking a few coins from NPC.

「And those are my cards.」

「So if something goes down, I hold up the target while you take care of it? Like with the bear?」

「That’s what it looks like. Sorry to give you the more painful end of the stick.」

「It’s all right. It’s better for the world if a guy like me gets beat up rather ‘an a cute girl like you.」

「Cute or not, I think I’m too old for you to call me a girl, don’t you think?」

Hiroshi ponders for a moment.

「Don’t you think our late teens are on a blurry line when it comes to terminology?」

「True.」

「…Semantics aside, why don’t we get something to eat?」

「…Yes, let’s.」

Ditching the derailed train, they decided to tackle the issue at hand.