LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 9
Chpater 9
“Oh, that was quick. …You’re already done!?”
The procedure was simply repeating the same steps while keeping time, so the work progressed smoothly. In the end, I approached Milene with sixteen [Beginner Potions], which prompted her previous comment.
She carefully inspects the quality of the potions, but there should be no flaws.
As I wait nervously, Milene gives me a thumbs up with a broad smile.
That means…
“Okay. No issues with quality. I’ll approve your membership in the Commerce Guild.”
“Yes!”
“Come to think of it, I haven’t asked your name. I’m Milene, the vice president of the guild. And you are?”
Well, I think we already know each other. She knows through [Appraisal], and I know from the request. But it would be crude not to introduce ourselves properly!
“I’m Yamamoto.”
“I see, Yamamoto. Well then, I’ll issue your guild card, so please wait a moment.”
And so, after waiting for about three minutes, I was handed an iron guild card. Oh, it looks like a dog tag! So cool!
“I’ll return your temporary entry permit here. Now, shall I give you a brief explanation about the guild?”
Milene explains while her chest bounces noticeably.
Perhaps that troublesome newcomer was a boy who fell for Milene’s charms and carelessly accepted a request. If so, Milene would be quite the femme fatale.
Now, according to Milene’s explanation, this iron guild card indicates an E-rank.
As guild rank increases, the type of guild card changes from iron (E) → copper (D) → silver (C) → gold (B) → mithril (A) → adamantite (special class).
The highest rank is called special class, which is officially above A-rank.
However, it’s more of an honorary rank given by the country to those in leadership positions overseeing producers, rather than a rank based on skill. Highly skilled producers typically fall into the A-rank category.
Incidentally, there were apparently S-rank producers in the past, but there aren’t any now.
“Why aren’t there any S-rank producers?”
“S-rank is a level given to A-rank producers who have repeatedly saved the country from crises, created multiple revolutionary tools that improve citizens’ lives, or saved the country from economic collapse through aid or diplomacy. Currently, the Demon King’s country is stable, so it’s not a rank that’s easily awarded.”
That’s how it is, apparently.
To raise your rank, you basically need to accept guild requests or increase sales by opening shops or stalls, and your rank will automatically increase.
“Do we need to pay some kind of tribute or tax?”
“That’s taken care of automatically when you have a guild card. Yamamoto-chan, you’ll be fine as long as you make and sell things. However, if you want to raise your rank quickly, it’s faster to accept guild requests.”
Apparently, I’ve unwittingly agreed to pay a protection fee.
When I ask for details, it seems that a percentage of sales is automatically taken as a tribute. Milene says it’s almost like a tax, so most people don’t mind it much, but I’m the type to care a lot! I’m just a common citizen, after all!
“Oh, that reminds me, I haven’t given you the payment for the [Beginner Potion] delivery request from earlier.”
“I’m getting paid?”
I’m surprised to receive payment, as I thought the guild card was the reward for the request.
“Originally, it was an incomplete request from the missing newcomer. Of course, we have a reward prepared for completion. Besides, we’ve already collected the fee from the client. We can’t pocket the reward too, can we?”
Well, double-dipping on rewards at the guild wouldn’t be right.
So, I receive the reward from Milene.
▶ You have completed Milene’s request.
▶ Obtained 500 reward stones.
▶ [Balance] has been activated.
Adjusting the balance of acquired items.
▶ Additionally gained 500 experience points.
▶ Yamamoto has leveled up by 2.
“Wha-!?”
“What’s with that strange noise?”
“Oh, n-nothing, I just received more than I expected!”
[Balance]-san, that sudden surprise attack is unfair!?
Wait, in my case, does it mean that when I get reward stones, I also gain experience points at the same time?
If so, there’s no need to go outside the city to fight monsters, right?
No, rather, isn’t this… fortunate?
With my pain sensitivity set to maximum, if an arm were cut off, I’d feel the pain as if it really happened.
In such a situation, I wonder if I could fight properly… or rather, I can’t!
If my arm were cut off, I’d be in so much pain I might die from shock!
That’s why I was dreading the idea of going outside the city to defeat monsters for leveling up.
But to think I can safely gain experience just by completing requests within the city…
[Balance]-san, you might be my savior!
“So a [Beginner Potion] is worth 50 reward stones?”
“It’s even more expensive in stores. They probably sell for around 100 or so.”
What? It’s double the price!
I feel like I’ve lost out by delivering to the guild…
If that’s the case, I could have made more profit by selling them myself at a stall…
“Ah, that face says ‘I could have made more money selling at a stall’, doesn’t it?”
“N-no, that’s not what I was thinking…”
How did she figure it out?!
“Well, if you want to make a profit, that would be quicker and easier, I suppose.”
“Eh? Is that okay?”
“This is the Commerce Guild. We have no reason to stop guild members from making a profit, though it might be different for non-members.”
I guess that makes sense.
After all, the guild takes a percentage of the members’ profits. They wouldn’t tell us not to make money.
“But you know, I don’t want to see a promising Yamamoto-chan struggling to earn small change, so how about I give you a hint?”
“A hint?”
“Well, in this Commerce Guild, the first floor has this reception, compounding room, and alchemy room. But from the second floor up, it’s all archive rooms. And those archive rooms are only accessible to D-rank members and above. As your rank increases, you can access higher floors. …And on those upper floors, there are recipes for things like [Intermediate Potions] and [Advanced Potions].”
So, the higher your rank, the more high-level item recipes you can learn?
“Are there recipes for [Resurrection Medicine] among those?”
“Of course, you can access those once you become a B-rank member.”
B-rank for [Resurrection Medicine], huh…
But this is good news.
Now that LIA has become a death game, everyone must be desperately wanting [Resurrection Medicine]. If I could sell that, I’d be rolling in money! I want to experience that uncontrollable laughter from making so much money!
“Higher-ranked items come with correspondingly higher prices. You’ll realize that the money you’ve been scraping together with [Beginner Potions] is just a drop in the bucket.”
I see.
Initially, I planned to sell [Beginner Potions] through the World Market function to earn money from players, but that wouldn’t be efficient for raising my guild rank.
Well, it might be advantageous for collecting initial reward stones, but it could mean missing out on bigger profits later on.
Probably, producers who’ve realized this are now frantically completing guild quests… They must be trying to create better items, put them up for auction, and make a profit! Damn, I can’t lose either…!
“Milene-san, is that the request board over there!?”
“Oh, I see that fire in your eyes. I don’t dislike that, you know? Yes, the leftmost of those three boards is for E-rank requests. I’ve calculated and posted requests there that will naturally increase the recipes you can make as you complete them.”
Preparing requests with beginner development in mind, Milene-san is really quite capable after all…
But well, if the path is laid out, there’s no reason not to use it!
“By the way, can I buy materials for [Compounding] and [Alchemy] at the guild?”
“If you buy in bulk, I can offer you a discount♪”
As expected, Milene-san is a real go-getter!
She probably purposely prepared materials at the guild so that I would notice, I bet.
“Milene-san”
“Yes?”
“If I raise my rank non-stop, won’t I draw envy from other guild members?”
“Don’t worry about it~”
Saying that, Milene-san showed a truly gentle smile.
“All the high-ranking people in this guild climbed up in a similar way. They won’t bother complaining about a newcomer~”
I see… So that’s how it is.
Hehe, how exciting! The Commerce Guild!
■□■
Two weeks have passed since I made my bold declaration to Milene-san.
“Here’s your D-rank guild certificate.”
“Thank you very much!”
…It was long! It was really long!
Days of tearing off requests from the quest board one after another, and staying late in the compounding room and alchemy room.
Especially because of my selfish desire to progress in both [Compounding] and [Alchemy] simultaneously, it took about twice the normal quota to reach D-rank.
According to Milene-san, to become D-rank, you need to contribute a certain amount of money to the guild and complete specific requests. I had left those specific requests until the very end, which is why it took so long.
Well, you see, completing requests allows you to acquire recipes for compounding and alchemy, right? Of course I wanted to clear everything before moving to the next stage!
So, while handling more tasks than others and pushing my work hours to the absolute limit, I managed to reach D-rank in two weeks.
By the way, among Tatsu-san’s acquaintances, some have apparently become D-rank adventurers in as little as one week! That’s half the time it took me! Damn it!
Incidentally, Tatsu-san started at D-rank, so he still doesn’t have enough achievements for C-rank and is working hard. Well, I hope he doesn’t overdo it, but that’s his choice.
Anyway, here’s my status after two weeks of hard work:
Name: Yamamoto
Race: Dullahan (Fairy)
Gender: ♀
Age: 0 years old
LV: 11
HP: 470/470
MP: 470/470
SP: 38
Physical Attack: 59 (+12)
Magical Attack: 47
Physical Defense: 62 (+15)
Magical Defense: 60 (+13)
Stamina: 47
Agility: 47
Intuition: 47
Spirit: 47
Fate: 47
Unique Skill: [Balance]
Race Skill: [Carriage Summoning]
Common Skills: [Blacksmithing] Lv3 / [Alchemy] Lv3 / [Compounding] Lv3 / [Appraisal] Lv3 / [Storage] Lv3 / [Fire Magic] Lv3 / [Water Magic] Lv3 / [Wind Magic] Lv3 / [Earth Magic] Lv3 / [Light Magic] Lv3 / [Dark Magic] Lv3 / [Cooking] Lv3
Yeah. I’m becoming an all-around fortress in various ways.
Tough, fast, strong, powerful in magic, resistant to magic, and lucky – it feels like, “What’s with this bug character?”
Moreover, I haven’t even left the city to fight once.
Probably, if compared to the status of top players, I’d lose in their specialties. But considering overall abilities, I think I’m in quite a ridiculous state.
You see, when normal people level up, their physical attack or stamina randomly increases by 2. But in my case, [Balance] doesn’t allow any stat to stand out, so all parameters increase by 2.
In other words, I’m achieving in one level-up what takes normal people nine level-ups. So, although I’m level 11 now, I think I might actually have the strength of around level 91.
However, because I’m building my stats evenly, I can’t win against opponents who specialize in certain areas…
By the way, the reason all my skills are at level 3 is because I worked hard on [Compounding] and [Alchemy].
These skills also level up all at once due to [Balance] whenever one of them increases, so [Compounding] and [Alchemy] aren’t managed by separate experience tables. In other words, I’m able to develop all skills with less effort than others.
But well, because the skills are developing so easily (or rather, developing on their own due to [Balance]), I’m not really able to properly grasp what all my skills are. It’s somewhat troubling.
I’d like to take some time to properly check them…
Especially with magic-related skills, I’ve only glanced at them once, so I’m very unsure if I can use them in actual combat. Yeah, maybe it’s about time I should try some practical application?
“Well then, Yamamoto-chan is now officially a D-rank guild member. At the same time, you can now access the materials on the second floor of the Commerce Guild.”
“Yes.”
“Just to let you know, the materials in the archive room can’t be taken out, so if you need any recipes or such, make sure to take notes, okay? Also, talking is strictly prohibited, so please don’t disturb other users.”
“Yes, I understand.”
It’s kind of like a library, isn’t it?
So, I immediately head to the archive room on the second floor of the Commerce Guild.
Ah, it was really tough getting this far. But because of that, my excitement is off the charts! I’m so looking forward to this!
When I reach the second-floor archive room, I see tall bookshelves neatly arranged. And in one corner, there’s a long desk sitting alone – probably a space for reading materials?
(Oh, that’s rare. There’s someone here…)
Even when I was doing production activities on the first floor of the Commerce Guild, I occasionally saw people passing by, but generally, there’s not much traffic in the Commerce Guild.
Well, I guess everyone’s busy running shops or stalls in town? And apparently, there are better-equipped production facilities in the city than here, which veteran producers seem to use?
In other words, only beginners like me are using these facilities!
Or rather, are there really no new monster players trying to get into production? Or maybe Milene-san is turning them away when I’m not looking?
Hmm.
Well, that doesn’t matter right now! Let’s enjoy searching for recipes!
As I walk between the bookshelves, many hint marks float up. It seems I can read the books where these hint marks appear.
Without any particular thought, I choose one book and start flipping through its contents.
Is this how to make [Panacea]?
It seems to be a medicine that cures status ailments like paralysis or sleep, but the list of ingredients includes names of materials I’ve never used before. As expected of D-rank. Does this mean [Compounding] has also advanced a level?
▶ You have acquired the recipe for [Panacea].
After about five minutes of reading, I heard such an announcement.
It seems that you don’t need to read through the entire contents of a recipe book; if you understand the important parts, it can be registered as a recipe for [Compounding] or [Alchemy].
With this in mind, I was determined to memorize recipes one after another, and started reading the next book, but…
▶ You have acquired the recipe for [Iron Chain Ball].
▶ [Balance] has been activated.
Adjusting the balance of [Compounding] recipes obtainable at D-rank.
▶ You have acquired all [Compounding] recipes obtainable at D-rank.
▶ [Balance] has been activated.
Adjusting the balance of [Alchemy] recipes obtainable at D-rank.
▶ You have acquired all [Alchemy] recipes obtainable at D-rank.
……………
[Balance]-san, well…