VRMMO no Shien Shokunin ～Top Player no Shikakenin～

Chapter 67: Making a grimoire

「What is this liquid?…Is it ink?」 (Riizu)

It was probably a guess made after seeing the 『Book』 I just made using cowhide and parchment.

It’s just as Riizu said, its use is about the same.

However, the contents are…

「You are right that it’ll be used as ink. However, that’s monster’s blood. It’s blood.」 (Hind)

「Eh…」 (Riizu)

To be more precise, it’s blood from the 『Horn vipers』 we fought a while ago in the 『Lukia Desert』.

Seems like blood is a rare drop from monsters, I had a bit within my inventory and that’s how I placed it in front of us.

Wait, why did the corners of Riizu’s mouth rise up as soon as I said it was blood? She’s scaring me.

「The players that have used monster’s blood said that if you write with it on a book that you made, it’ll form a type of grimoire according to the type of monster it’s from.」 (Hind)

「…Was a grimoire something you could make yourself? I believe normally you would use something that already existed.」 (Riizu)

「That’s the case in TB, or at least that’s all I can say.」 (Hind)

「Besides that, what’s the use of a grimoire…?」 (Riizu)

「A mage’s weapon.」 (Hind)

Riizu’s long eyelashes blinked over and over.

Yup, seems like she doesn’t get it. Guess there’s no choice.

Without rushing the explanation, I should probably start from the very beginning.

「Riizu, you said before that the staff was heavy, right?」 (Hind)

「Yes. It might be because mages don’t have high attack, this thing made of tortoise shell is a bit…」 (Riizu)

Saying that, she held up the staff in a tiresome manner.

Riizu is shorter than the average people of her age, her physical strength is also below average.

I also thought for a moment about the 『Whip』 Herrscha used, but that would probably not suit many people.

Besides, for some reason, I get the feeling that I shouldn’t let Riizu hold a whip. As her brother.

「A mage’s staff is usually heavy to be used as a blunt weapon, there’s a reason it’s heavy. So, I looked for a solution and in the threads for each job…in the mage’s thread, I found some interesting posts.」 (Hind)

According to it, there were blueprints for mage’s weapons in leathercraft.

When I read that, I checked inside the game and…

Indeed, there was a blueprint for a grimoire that would be used as gear called 『Wasp・Grimoire』 that used the body fluids from the bee monster at the beginning 『Killer bee』.

「However, I get the feeling I have hardly seen any mages without a staff equipped? It’s been a bit over a week since we had last seen any players, but what about the current situation…?」 (Riizu)

「From what I’ve seen in the BBS it’s about the same. One of the reasons for it is because the main ingredient of monster’s body fluid/blood has a low chance of dropping.

「Even the player that posted about the existence of these grimoires said that he didn’t think he would go through the trouble of making a second one either.」 (Hind)

「…So, what about the other reason?」 (Riizu)

「The weapon that mages start with is a staff. For people, letting go of something that they’ve grown used to requires a decent reason right?」 (Hind)

In terms of performance, they have higher magic attack than staves, but they take much more effort to make.

There’s the fact that staves are shared equipment with Shinto priests, there’s a stable supply of staves by the crafters.

「Basically, there’s not enough of a reason for them to move on from staves.」 (Riizu)

「That’s right. If I had to say, there are not good quality ones around the trading BBS. Even if you made them yourself, if you are not used to working with hide, it’s pretty annoying.」 (Hind)

In the case of Riizu, there was only the earnest intention of making something lighter for her, so I had been thinking of making a grimoire for her next.

Besides, this grimoire, it seems like it will look pretty cool when you use it in battles.

I’m looking forward to seeing it completed.

「So, I want Riizu to write inside this book with the horn viper’s blood. That will complete the grimoire.」 (Hind)

「Thank you very much. However, Hind-san, why didn’t you complete it yourself?」 (Riizu)

「…This appears in the blueprint. Apart from the workmanship of the binding of the grimoire and the page quality, the performance of it will also depend on the strength of the thoughts that the writer writes in it…or so it says.」 (Hind)

「Hah…?」 (Riizu)

It makes you think that it’s probably using that brainwaves perception feature that Yumir’s 『Hero’s aura』 uses.

The strength of the writer’s thoughts…in other words, if the emotions going through the writer as they are writing inside are big, you could say that it has a positive effect on the weapon’s performance.

Things like writing while angry or while you are laughing, I wonder if those would be good? That’s what makes me think.

「What nonsense…」 (Riizu)

「I guess you could say it’s grimoire-like. You could say that there are grimoires that are made up of negative emotions like hatred or cursing. If we are talking about grimoires, it would be all about ritual black magic related to angels and demons.」 (Hind)

「So, returning back to my previous question. Why didn’t you write yourself inside the grimoire?」 (Riizu)

「I didn’t feel any particular emotion coming out from myself…so I thought that if I did it myself its performance would be low. That’s why, I’ll leave it to you, Riizu.」 (Hind)

「…So that was the case.」 (Riizu)

I thought about asking Yumir to do it, but felt that that felt kind of wrong.

I get the feeling a weird grimoire that radiated flames or had automatic beams would come out.

That being the case, I arrived at the conclusion Riizu should write in it since she’s the one that is going to use it.

「I don’t really mind if that’s the case, but have you decided on what I should write inside?」 (Riizu)

「Nope, it seems like if you write inside in Japanese, it’ll change on its own into the ancient language of this world.

「Since no other player will be able to read it, it should be fine to write whatever you want. That’s why you can put your all into writing something with all your emotions.」 (Hind)

「I understand. I promise you that I’ll definitely get the best result possible.」 (Riizu)

She seems to be awfully self-confident.

Riizu placed the ink in a quill pen and for some reason, she stared at me.

「…」 (Riizu)

「…? Why are you looking at-」 (Hind)

Motionlessly, she stared at me without saying anything.

The moment I turned away because I felt uncomfortable, the quill pen moved.

Like that, Riizu’s pen ran fiercely through the paper.

I’m quite curious about what she’s writing, but there was a strange feeling of tension and I couldn’t utter a single word.

I watched over her while gulping my own saliva.

Riizu’s gaze kept going from the paper to me and back to it over and over.

In the blink of an eye, she finished writing on all the pages and when she reached the last page-

「Eh? Is this already the last one?」 (Riizu)

Having paused, Riizu placed the pen on the table and passed the book to me and I checked if the letters had dried up.

The letters had already transformed into something I couldn’t read, and the blood seemed to be dry too.

Should be fine to close it if it’s like this.

I closed the book, sealed it with the metal fittings and registered it as a completed item in the window.

Since Riizu was involved in it, I wrote both of our names in the manufacturer’s signature.

Immediately after that, the book released a dazzling light.

「Uo, what’s this!? What’s this light!?」 (Yumir)

「Eh, what…!? It resembles the light after a craft is done, but it’s this intense…!?」 (Selene)

The light expanded throughout the room and Yumir and Selene-san stopped their hands from their work and looked at it.

The light produced a white-out in our vision and eventually slowly gathered in the book.

Once it completely settled down, this time the book was covered with an ominous black fog.

Eh…? This is completely different from what I’ve heard about.

If completing one would have this kind of flashy effect, it would have been written in the BBS’s post.

「What was that, Hind!? What exactly have you made!?」 (Yumir)

「It looks…like a book? Is it an item? However, I don’t think I’ve heard about a book type item…」 (Selene)

When I tried to open my mouth to explain, some text appeared within my field of view.

This happens when a player reaches level cap, or when news appear within the game, but it just didn’t feel right with this timing.

Everyone shut their mouths for the time being and, followed those words and…

『Hind-sama & Riizu-sama have managed to craft a first-rate Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm +10!』

That message was displayed.

The atmosphere in the blacksmith’s workshop froze because of the unexpected event.

「-Wait! Heeeeeeey! I don’t get what’s going on! Explain it to me! Explain it to meeeeeeeee!!」 (Yumir)

Yumir’s scream resounded throughout the home.

It might have been because I had previous experience with leathercrafting, or might be that Riizu’s poured her whole heart into it and it won.

Anyway, it just so happens that our guild made the first weapon with the highest quality cap within the game.

Once I explained it roughly to Yumir, she said in indignation “You should have let me in if it was something that interesting!”.

Besides her, Selene-san looked slightly depressed.

「Hind-kun made it before me huh…a first-rate +10, I was aiming for that too.」 (Selene)

「No no, it would be different if it was for blacksmithing. Besides, it was a joint work with Riizu just as the message displayed.」 (Hind)

「If it’s Hind-san and me, this is the expected result.」 (Riizu)

Riizu let out a line that I get the feeling I have heard somewhere else proudly.

Having heard that, Yumir made quite the unpleasant face, now that I think about it, she did say something similar after our first duel ended.

Since it looks like it’ll take a while until we see the results of our work in duels, this might have been something quite unsatisfactory for Yumir.

「By the way, for your emotions to give such a high verdict…just what did you write in the book? It can’t be something so embarrassing that you can’t tell others right? Hmm?」 (Yumir)

Then, pressed on the contents that I didn’t ask her about.

However, Riizu replied like this nonchalantly.

「I expressed in this book all the feelings I have towards Hind-san. Though there weren’t enough pages in it. Stronger feelings than these don’t exist in this world, right?」 (Riizu)

Since she declared such words in a refreshing manner, I unconsciously stiffened.

Selene-san’s cheeks reddened and Yumir looked as if she had bitten a bitter-tasting bug.