Blunt Type Ogre Girl’s Way to Live Streaming
chapter-285

“Here, I brought the alloy clay.”

“Thank you… isn’t this a bit too much…?”

As I dump all the surplus alloy clay that had accumulated from taking down a lot of golems out of spite onto the workbench, Haruru opens her eyes in surprise. She seemed to have been concentrating on some work, apparently not watching the stream.

“I was driven by the viewers…”

” …? Well, having more is good since we can refine it into higher materials, but I heard they were quite troublesome monsters…”

“Haah, they were instantly killed once I hit their core.”

“Sukuna seems frustrated… I see… that’s why your face is still looking unsatisfied…”

She nodded as if understanding and began to put the abandoned clay into her inventory one by one.

“You can’t help it, can you… You brought a lot of the requested items… As a thank you, I will give you some information…”

It seems my inability to accept this situation was all too clearly written on my face, for Haruru began to speak, shaking her head as if saying ‘there, there’.

“To the west of the 6th City (Zeronoa), there’s a volcanic region known as the <Dosuolka Active Volcano>… It seems that the Black Wolf Rondo, one of the Wolf King tribes you’re aiming for, appears there…”

“Appears, huh? Why the ambiguity?”

“There are many rumors in Zeronoa, but no player has actually encountered it…”

“Hmm, I wonder if this is one of those types where you have to trigger some hidden quest for it to appear.”

“Probably…”

Just like having to get the lantern event to find the Shrine of the End, it seemed like looking for the black wolf would require some key event or quest. The wolves have been quite troublesome since the red wolf, compared to ordinary named creatures that wander randomly in their territory.

“It seems that NPCs in the city of Zeronoa are talking about it, so… please use your excellent hearing skill wisely…”

“That’s tiring. Well, okay. Thanks for the info. I’ll look for it when I get to Zeronoa.”

“That’s good… Your weapon will be completed the day after tomorrow… I’ll wrap it as a birthday present for you…”

“Okay, got it. I’m going to Konekomaru’s place now!”

“Please be careful…”

With Haruru starting to shove the clay into the blast furnace, I dashed out of her workshop and headed for Konekomaru workshop.

☆

“To start with the conclusion, it seems that I can enhance the Red Wolf Attire.”

The good news I was told immediately upon arriving at the workshop was that.

“Or to be precise, I should say I couldn’t create the Moon Wolf’s Attire.”

“You couldn’t create it?”

“Yeah. I’ve tried various things. It would be faster for you to see it. Wait a moment… if I use this feature…”

As I tilt my head at Konekomaru’s reply of not being able to create it, thanks to some settings he tinkered with, the display of his menu card began to project large.

“There are generally two methods to create equipment: production and enhancement. This is a common method in most hack-and-slash games, and these orthodox methods have been incorporated into WLO.”

“I’ve seen it in the hunting game that Rin-chan played.”

“I think it was the same in that hunting game, but usually, by defeating monsters or clearing key quests, you could then produce equipment using that monster’s materials, right? Look at this list, you’ll see that I wasn’t able to unlock the production of equipment using the Moon Wolf’s materials.”

“…That’s true. And there are a lot of monster names I don’t know.”

“Haha, when you’re producing armor, you get the opportunity to work with a variety of monster materials. You can learn a lot more than from adventuring.”

I’ve managed to make quite quick progress through the town and due to being holed up in dungeons during events, I actually lack a lot of experience exploring fields. I’ve hardly had any serious battles with the named bosses in the field either. Most of my battles were event-based, like in Nocturne.

“Even if you can craft, what you can create are the base materials for equipment. How to incorporate attributes and additional abilities into them and determine the design all depend on our skills as crafters. However, if you can’t even create the base materials for equipment, there’s really nothing you can do.”

“Well, there’s no helping that. But, I’ve given you all the materials I got from the Moon Wolf, haven’t I? Are there any special conditions?”

“Not all monsters are suitable for producing weapons. Like the materials from the ‘Vibrational Dragon – Ars Nova’ that you defeated, there are materials that can only be used for enhancement. If you use the hunting game analogy you mentioned, it’s like you can’t skip the steps from the weapons of low-level monsters.”

“I guess you’re right…”

“I’ve considered the issue of insufficient technology, but in that case, you’d only be told that you ‘lack enough status or skills’, but you can still see the potential targets for equipment production. I guess the Moon Wolf’s materials just can’t be made into defense Attire.”

Even though I have rare items and the [Soul], if I can’t create anything, I guess I just have to accept it.

“But, as you mentioned earlier, you can upgrade the Red Wolf Attire, right?”

“Yes, as Haruru just told you, these monsters belong to the ‘King Wolf Clan’. If you look at it in a broader context, they are also wolf-type monsters… Generally, materials from the same type of monsters are compatible, making them ideal for grade-ups.”

“Good…”

“I don’t intend to deviate too much from the direction of the Red Wolf Attire. However, it’s still unknown what kind of performance equipment made using the [Soul] of an unknown named monster like the Moon Wolf will have…”

“Unknown?”

“Yes, it’s impossible to predict what named skills equipment that uses a [Soul] will acquire based on the pre-production status prediction. However, since Arthur is already crafting armor, we can guess to some extent.”

“Oh, that’s right, Arthur was getting a kimono outfit made.”

I remember the new equipment that Arthur showed me when we reunited in the starting town. It was samurai-style kimono Attire, separated into top and bottom like a kendo uniform. I didn’t specifically ask about its actual performance, but considering Arthur’s noticeable position, she’s likely to publicly announce its abilities.

So, if what Konekomaru says is correct, that was not a production Attire, but an enhancement Attire. As I’m thinking about such inconsequential matters, Konekomaru tells me about the actual performance.

“The named skill brought about by the Moon Wolf’s materials is [Anti-Evil Moonlight]. It’s a compound skill of strong resistance against curses and slight resistance against magic. This is equivalent to the [Wolf King Rush] skill in the Red Wolf Attire.”

“So, the [Soul] is a separate slot?”

“It seems so. The effect of that is quite tremendous.”

Materials from named bosses, other than the [Soul], are highly valuable. They allow us to create equipment with high performance compared to materials from monsters of the same level. Even if the [Soul] does not drop, the benefits of defeating it are considerable. In the beginning, only a few named bosses were defeated, but recently more have been conquered.

With more named equipment being crafted, whether a [Soul] is present or not, new things have been discovered. One of them is that there are ‘set effects’ or so they should be called, on equipment with the rarity: named.

In relation to the Red Wolf Attire, its special effect relies on the [Wolf King Rush] skill series. It’s said that if materials from the same named boss are used in three or more of the five full-body armor parts, the set effect comes to life.

The unique ability, known as the Named Skill, emerges from this set effect.

At the same time, the Named Skill can also be crafted by using a [Soul] as an ingredient.

Although they share the same name, the power of the latter is much greater than the former. As a result, there’s been a recent trend towards finding a new name to differentiate between the two.

“The skill’s name is [Moonlit Domain – Armored Cloak.] Due to the repulsive action of the moonlight attribute, it is said to be a blessing of rejection that reduces the power of all attribute attacks by 25%. Of course, there are activation conditions and costs, but still, its effect is exceptional.”

“So it’s anti-magic defense equipment, right?”

“No, it’s attribute reduction. It should be able to target attacks from breaths or attribute weapons.”

“I see… I’m grateful since I’m weak to magic, and I think it’s a strong resistance, but… there are a lot of monsters like Melty in the world. If it’s just an increase in defense, it’s not such a broken effect.”

“Haha, you can’t compare it to that, can you?”

Pointing at the [Lone Moon Camelia] Mr. Kitten Maru laughed wryly.

“However… unexpected chemical reactions may occur with equipment enhancement. As happened when [Wolf King Rush] evolved due to equipment enhancement. Especially since the red wolf and moon wolf are the unprecedented same-species Named Bosses, I’m actually hoping something will happen.”

“I see… I thought so when I met Radiant Wolf earlier, but I think the value of the red wolf in this world isn’t just about being a solo named. Especially, it seems to have a significant meaning for the king wolf tribe.”

“Radiant Wolf Oratorio… It’s the first time I’ve seen her humanoid form, but she certainly said something meaningful.”

“Have you seen the wolf form?”

“She’s a monster like a god of death who wanders all fields from Zeronoa onward, destroying everyone he encounters. It’s quite a topic at the front lines. It was a mystery how she slips through the dungeons connecting the towns, but if she’s in human form, she could even appear in a village.”

“Oh… now that you mention it, certainly.”

The encounter with the Radiant Wolf Oratorio in the Perpetual Ore Mine felt astonishingly normal. She appeared and then disappeared, all as if such occurrences were commonplace. Yet, the Perpetual Ore Mine is located within the confines of a town known as Griffith. In essence, it was as if creatures of the wild, like her, freely roamed the streets of the town, an occurrence viewed as surprisingly ordinary.

“Um… When they appear so human-like, it’s difficult to discern whether they’re monsters or NPCs.”

“It’s possible that the distinction isn’t as clear-cut as you might think. Take, for instance, the Apostle from the Apostle Annihilation Battle – had you not intervened and defeated it, it would have undoubtedly laid waste to the City of Beginnings.”

When you put it that way, certainly.

I had initially presumed that towns were free from monster intrusions due to the game’s system designating them as safe zones… but perhaps there’s a deeper significance to it.

Recalling that peculiar encounter, I found myself lost in thought.

Tl note:

I forgot… did I change Wolf King Gallop into Wolf King Rush or not…?

[Moonlit Domain – Armored Cloak.] – This phrase is somewhat complex and deserves a note for clarity. The literal translation is fairly accurate if we discount the author’s fondness for wordplay. With this in mind, the translation could alternatively be rendered as [Moonlight Dominion – Celestial Armor] if we base it on the pronunciation. This offers another layer of understanding of the author’s intention in crafting this phrase.