“I’m a fisherman, remember.”

  Thanks to having high Fishing Mastery, I’d gotten pretty good at identifying fish on sight. This seemed to apply even to fossilized fish, to some extent. It seemed to be a Lycoptera—a prehistoric relative of the arowana.

  Before my eyes, the words “Fish Fossil” changed to “Lycoptera Fossil.” So, apparently, I’d managed to identify it. Alto couldn’t identify it without a magnifying glass, but it seemed you could also do it if you had high enough mastery in a relevant field.

  “Hmm? Well, I guess there’s no way you wouldn’t know a fish.”

  “Obviously.”

  “Uh-huh...”

  “That’s actually pretty impressive.”

  “Can I have a look?”

  “Go ahead.”

  I handed the Lycoptera Fossil over to Romina.

  “Let’s see... Oh? I can use this to turn your Low-Grade Ancient Dress into a normal Ancient Dress. I’ll need around ten of them, though.”

  My equipment can be upgraded?

  The Ancient Dress was gear made from the ancient Coelacanth I fished up. Romina had just barely managed to craft it thanks to its high difficulty level. Technically, it came out looking like the finished product, but the quality was low...which was why it got the “Low-Grade” label tacked onto it. So we can finally turn it into the real thing?

  “Huh... It might actually be worth collecting more fossils.”

  It was quite a high-performing piece of equipment. I was still wearing it mostly for looks, but...the only thing we had that outperformed it in raw stats was the Kappa Costume.

  “Can you make an Ancient Dress just with these?”

  “Yeah, looks like it’s a high-tier piece of Fossil Equipment I can make with another fifty of these. In fact, this is probably how it was supposed to be made.”

  So this is the proper crafting path for the Ancient Dress. What we took was a shortcut. That’s...pretty specific.

  “Would this count as...a new discovery, then? When did fossils start showing up, anyway?”

  “After the end of the last wave.”

  “And unfortunately, I hear they only show up in mining zones at or beyond Cal Mira.”

  I see...so the conditions aren’t wrong.

  With that said, you needed to have Excavation skills, you needed to specialize in drills or hammers rather than pickaxes, and you needed to appraise the completed fossil... That was a lot of annoying hoops to jump through.

  Just like with Dismantling, this was the sort of intel that would take a while to spread.

  “Anyway, if you’re okay with it, Kizuna, I’ll gladly upgrade your dress if you can get the materials.”

  “Looks like this is going to be fun.”

  Even if it had no direct connection to fishing, just the fact that I could dig up fish fossils made mining feel a bit more exciting to me. I’d started this to help Romina as thanks for everything she did for the party, but now, I’d begun to feel an entirely different kind of motivation.

  “All right! Let’s keep digging out those fossils!”

  “I’m glad to see you so motivated, Kizuna. But with you, it’s clear that the fossils have become the main focus, and the mining’s become an afterthought.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “For me, I’m after the gemstones, and the fossils are a bonus. So if I dig any up, I’ll give them to you, okay, Kizzy?”

  “You’ve gotta have something to keep the work fun.”

  “Yeah!”

  And just like that, I kept drilling more and more in search of precious fossils. When it started looking like my Energy regen wasn’t going to cut it, I’d recycle some useless items with Elemental Conversion to keep on digging.

  By the end of it, we’d managed to unearth a respectable number of assorted fossils—alongside a massive amount of ore, of course.

  †

  “Kizuna!”

  Eventually, Shouko and the others returned, having finished dealing with the monsters in the mine.

  “Have you made progress?” Shouko asked me.

  “We’ve been digging nonstop, so yeah. We managed to nab a good amount of ore in just a day.”

  “It’s not enough,” Sheryl muttered, looking down at an ore she had in her hand.

  “True.” Romina nodded. “Even with this much, it’ll be gone in no time once I start crafting. We also need some to strengthen the facilities.”

  “Making good accessories takes a lot of material too. It’s tough, but fun,” said Therese.

  “So there is still a lot of work ahead.”

  “You have it rough, I daresay.”

  “How about you, bro? You haven’t started fishing for rats and moles in your downtime, right?”

  Tsumugi...am I really that untrustworthy in your eyes?

  “Hmph! I wasn’t doing anything that insignificant. In fact, get an eyeful of this!”

  With a dramatic flourish, I held up a cleaned fossil for everyone to see.

  “I daresay, a fossil?”

  “That’s right! I cleaned and appraised a fossil that popped out!”

  “Hmm,” my sister grunted. “Didn’t know there were fossils in the game.”

  “So it seems. A fish fossil, is it...? Very fitting of you, Kizuna.”

  “You got that right! Fossils are actually pretty darn fun.”

  “Looks like you made a new discovery, but just a general one. Not the sorta thing that only happens around the little lady.”

  “It’s a bit of a shame, but that’s fine too.”

  Well, I’m sorry I didn’t meet your expectations, L’Arc, Therese. It’s not like something exciting’s bound to happen every single time.

  “It seems like digging for ore sparked your interest in fossils instead,” Shouko expounded. “And now, the ores are just a bonus?”

  They all caught on so fast... Sure enough, of all the fossils I could have come across, the first one just happened to be a fish fossil—and that was what had gotten me so hyped. By the way, other than the first one, I hadn’t cleaned any of the other “Some Kind of Fossils (?)” I’d amassed.

  “Ultimately, yeah.”

  “Are you gonna get totally obsessed with fossil digging now, bro?”

  “I’m still gonna fish, obviously! Fossil digging’s just another hobby to add to the list.”

  “Now, now, it’s not a bad deal—once he gathers up enough of those fossils, I’ll be able to craft from that ancient series he’s wearing.”

  “Fossil... Ancient...” muttered Sheryl.

  “Oh?” my sister gasped. “Then maybe we should start digging too! We just need to gather fossils, right?”

  “We’ll be mining here for a while, so we might be able to get what we need. I’ll need around fifty per piece,” Romina explained.

  “That’s quite a lot. Can we really find that many?”

  “Well...we got around fourteen in today’s dig.”

  “That sounds exhausting.”

  Shouko had a troubled look on her face as she chose her words with care.

  “In some games, that’d be a totally normal drop rate.”

  “Indeed. I daresay, it’s far from impossible.”

  Tsumugi and Yamikage—both experienced in the ways of gaming addicts—chimed in, making it sound as though it were nothing.

  “But that’s only fourteen in an entire day, right? If you consider weapons, equipment, and everything else, it still seems like a massive undertaking...”

  “Yeah, that sounds about right. And we need a lot of dismantling-exclusive materials too, but it’s nothing to stress over.”

  Romina was used to seeing how many materials got consumed through her daily blacksmith work, and she didn’t seem too bothered about it.

  “The real issue is seeing how many of those fossils can actually become something useful,” she added.

  “My word... That is rough indeed.”

  “If I mess this up, it’ll all be for nothing. I need to raise my skills to the level where I can guarantee success by the time we have everything.”

  The pressure on Romina was intense.

  I mean, if she failed to craft after we went through all the work, there was definitely going to be trouble. This is exactly why I never want to become a blacksmith.

  “To start off, I’d like to gather ten so I can reinforce Kizuna’s Ancient Dress,” Romina said.

  “That much sounds doable. Do you need any assistance, Kizuna?” Shouko offered.

  “Nah, just leave it to me. I’ll keep cleaning until I get bored,” I said.

  “You mean, you’re gonna keep doing it forever, huh, bro?” Tsumugi surmised.

  “Yes, I don’t think the concept of boredom applies to you, Kizuna.”

  “Without a doubt, I daresay.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “You’ve got some real endurance.”

  “I can respect that part of you.”

  Why is everyone so quick to agree on that part? Is it something I said?

  “Ha ha, everyone really gets you, Kizuna,” Romina said.

  “My brother, you see... Mom said that he took all the patience when he was born and didn’t leave any for me.”

  Tsumugi, you say it with so much pride, but honestly, that’s just sad. Please stop.

  “Actually, if Tsumugi had just a fraction of Kizuna’s patience, it would probably balance out perfectly...”

  “Parents can be so insensitive, I daresay.”

  Yamikage spoke with a hint of spite. Maybe she didn’t get along with her parents? Then again, there were plenty of folks who just didn’t understand games. In my case, my family was pretty accepting...though maybe that just had to do with my two sisters being complete gaming fanatics.

  They even got mad when I tried to sell my spot in this game to fund a family trip.

  “In any case, Romina, it looks like my brother found something he’s hooked on. Lucky for you, right?”

  “Ha ha, I’m curious to see how far he’ll take it.”

  “Is that a good thing? Well, I’ll just keep at it for now.”

  It was important to try out new things, and this contributed to the skills I already had, so it wasn’t a wasted effort. Once I collected enough, Romina could craft gear from the Ancient series, and the fossils I cleaned up especially nicely could look cool on display in my room on Cal Mira.

  “So, how were things on your end, Shouko? Did you hunt your share of monsters?” I asked.

  “Hmm...to be quite honest, it’s becoming hard to keep up. It might be more efficient to have Romina craft us some new gear.”

  “The battles took a lot longer than usual.”

  “They were formidable, I daresay.”

  “It was a good challenge, but it’s getting kinda hard.”

  “Romina, mind if I borrow my bro to help gather some materials for gear?” Tsumugi asked.

  Materials from strong monsters naturally resulted in strong gear—that was just how it went in these games. Dragging me along for my dismantling was the logical choice.

  Now that word had gotten out, dismantlers like me were in high demand.

  “Sure. We’ve made a good start thanks to Kizuna and his Pekkles, and I know what I’m looking for now. So Kizuna, could you go help them gather some materials? I’ll set aside any fossils that turn up.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I guess I’m helping out, then.”

  And so, I joined Shouko in the monster-hunting team and spent a while dismantling. We were mainly up against monsters called Iron Lizards, or something like that—essentially, giant lizards with metallic hide. Their skin was literally iron, and when I handed it over to Romina later, she said it could be smelted into iron ingots.

  Of course, that was the wrong way to use it. When kept as hide, it remained flexible and could be tanned like leather to make even better equipment.

  We kept hunting for a while, and as it got late, we decided to wrap up and leave the mines together. The sun had already begun to set as we emerged from the dig site.

  “Oooh.”

  I faced the sunset, scrolling through the day’s haul. I’d gotten a ton of ore, a fair number of uncleaned fossils, and plenty of monster materials.

  “Today was tiring,” said Shouko.

  “I daresay, we were fighting the whole day,” added Yamikage.

  “It was a packed day,” I agreed. “If we can get the same amount tomorrow, we should have enough to cover our needs.”

  “And if we can expand Romina’s forge, we can make our gear even stronger,” Tsumugi explained.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “I daresay, it’s about time I updated my equipment.”

  “Aww, will that mean we won’t be seeing Yammy in her ‘other armor’ again?”

  “That’s a good thing, I daresay!”

  We’re still dragging that on, huh?

  With that said, we’d gathered quite a few materials, and it was about time to start making things with them.

  “Hey, Kizuna. Thanks for holding on to all those Crystal Skulls.”

  We’d found quite a few Crystal Skulls during the excavation, and I’d ended up holding on to all of them just so we wouldn’t all have to dig through our inventories to find them later.

  “We’ve dug up a lot of stuff, so I appreciate how everyone’s willing to carry some.”

  “Of course. We’ll stash them in the storehouse once we reach Cal Mira.”

  And with that, we headed back to town for a well-deserved rest.

  Chapter 4: Fossil Cleaning

  “Phew...”

  As I cooled off in my room at the inn after taking a soak in the bath, I heard a knocking at the door.

  “Kizuna? Are you there?”

  Hm? Sounds like Shouko.

  “Yeah, I’m here.” I opened the door and greeted her. “Something up?”

  “No, it’s not like there’s anything in particular. I was just wondering whether or not I’d find you here.”

  “Did you think I’d be out fishing or something?”

  “Correct. I assumed you’d already left. Are you going to fish after this?”

  “Nah, I already checked the crab traps and did some fishing before my bath, so I’m good. I’m not going out again tonight.”

  “Really? I was certain you would.”

  Is it one of those things? Is she reaching out because she wants to go night fishing with me?

  “I’m planning to process my fossils until I go to bed.”

  “Oh, I see.”

  “According to Sheryl and Romina, it’s better to do this stuff in a proper workshop with the right tools, but my skills aren’t high enough to make it a full-blown thing. I’m just practicing.”

  I had to do some trial and error to really get a feel for it before I started taking it more seriously. As for tools, I had a drill, so it wasn’t an issue. As of yet, I hadn’t run into any fossils that were too hard for the drill head or that required a stronger motor.

  I needed to fulfill some conditions for skill progression anyway—and everything starts with a challenge.

  “Would you mind if I watched you for a bit?”

  “Go right ahead, but I don’t think it’s all that interesting to watch.”

  “Well, since you’ve gotten into it recently, I just wanted to see what it was like. Only for a little while.”

  So this is Shouko’s way of showing curiosity?

  “Sure. Watch me all you want.”

  I placed a few fossils on the floor of the room and started cleaning. With a loud tap and a louder snap, I chipped and cracked away.

  “That’s quite a loud sound.”

  “Yeah, I feel like I’m gonna get complaints from the room next door... I might get an earful from Yamikage after this.”

  She really tucks in early, that girl.

  Unless we had specific plans to stay up late, Yamikage was always the first to sleep. To be more precise, she’d take naps during the day if we had any plans to fight at night. It was like a fixation for her.

  In Dimension Wave, you could immediately drift off just by lying in a bed and focusing on sleeping. But, depending on certain factors, you could get woken up before your intended wake-up time.

  I’d been woken up by Pekkles before, and getting woken up by loud noises was definitely possible.

  “But I’m just gonna pretend it didn’t happen and at least finish up one of them.”

  “Kizuna...”

  I gave the fossil a few more firm taps to reveal what was hidden inside.

  Oh? Looks like it’s an ammonite this time. At least, that’s the vibe I’m getting from the shape of the shell.

  Going off the description, it was also usable to make Ancient equipment. That gear seemed pretty lenient on the materials that could be used to craft it.

  “All right, that’s one down.”

  “So this is fossil cleaning?”

  “Yep. See? The item name changed to something else.”

  I had Shouko inspect the fossil so she could see the difference from when it had first been excavated.

  “It really has changed into a different item. So, Kizuna... I suspect you are mainly after fish fossils. Am I correct?”

  She was. I was interested in fish fossils.

  But still...

  “I think it’d be pretty cool if I found something like a dinosaur fossil too.”

  “I’m sure you’ll find one eventually.”

  “Probably, yeah... But I wonder how that’d work out if I found one in one of these ‘Some Kind of Fossils (?)’.”

  The fossils I was working with were chunks of rock around forty centimeters across...

  “I’d be extremely underwhelmed if it turned out to be just one rib bone or something tiny like that.”

  “Well...maybe they come in scattered pieces, but you can find all the right pieces in one dig site?”

  “It’ll be fun to figure that out. Maybe it just looks small before cleaning, but once you carve it out—boom! You’re suddenly holding a massive bone.”

  That was what it felt like reeling in the Blue Shark...rather, catching a shark that big at a port was weird in and of itself.

  “I’m excited to see what comes out...though it would be amazing if everything came out all at once. Dinosaurs are massive.”

  “Yeah, I bet it’s divided into larger parts. Like the head, torso, legs, etc.”

  If it suddenly filled the whole room the moment I appraised it, I wouldn’t know what to do.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21