Translator: Charlotte

I stopped my work for a short while.
Looked like some workmen were on break, and as they headed back into the workshop we swapped places with them.
While gulping down the water I was given, I left the shop.
The outside air felt so good.
I made some small talk with the gla.s.smaker Nils and learnt quite a bit while I was at it too.

He told me that since the workshop was so hot, working in there for long periods of time was dangerous.
Yeah, the environment in there was quite extreme.
I showed him my work too, and he gave me some advice on how to improve.

Apparently, the gla.s.s didn"t smoothly fit the mould. He told me to focus more on blowing enough air into the tube to fix that.
Although I had no idea how you would do that. It"s not like you can see the inside of the mould while you"re working on it.
How bizarre.

After Nils gave me another general lecture, I had a briefing session with the other members of the workshop.
One of the topics I caught was the recent shortage of potions.
Because of that, orders for potion bottles have been rapidly increasing. While that was good for business, it was quickly getting out of hand.
Insufficient manpower and a boss who kept accepting new orders. I heard some grumbling along those lines.

I get that feeling, friend.
Management accepting orders with insanely short deadlines…
Oops.
Let"s save those unsophisticated thoughts for another place.

「Hey, how"s it going?」

While I was lost in my unnecessary thoughts, someone came up to me.
It was the only other player in the workshop.
He had green marker above his head and if I had to describe him in a few words, I"d say "pretty boy" would be good.
Sweat rolled down his proportioned upper body, giving it a glistening quality.
It was a little erotic.

「Great, thanks. What do you do?」

「To some extent, I"m working here as a gla.s.s worker. The name"s Fay.」

「I"m just a temporary part-time worker. My name is Keith, I"m a summoner.」

「Summoner?」

「Yeah.」

「Hey, colour me surprised, we"re both stuck with the unpopular jobs.」

Ah, now that he mentioned it, there was just one player.
Good on you, joining this industry.

「Why"d you choose Gla.s.s Worker as your job?」

「I"d love to ask you the same thing, honestly speaking.」

What a lovely smile.
Pretty boys look good no matter what situation they"re in
To be honest, I"m jealous.

「Well, at character creation my parent account was a summoner so I just went with that. What about you?」

「Hmm… I aimed for and finally got this a job as a Gla.s.s Worker. It took quite a bit of hard work, I tell you.」

After saying that, he reached into the pouch hanging from his hip and pulled out something.
It was a wind chime.

「I"m aiming to become a gla.s.s craftsman in real life. This way I can train here too.」

Fay blew at the wind chime. It made a nice ringing sound.
The wind chime was made from transparent gla.s.s with a hint of green.
Definitely not a very showy ornament.
The edges were a little jagged, but when the gla.s.s rod in the centre hit them, a very pretty sound would resound.
Depending on where the gla.s.s rod hit, it would sound a different note. A very interesting toy.

「Whether it"s in the real world, or in here, I just want to leave behind something original you know」

「That wind chime seems kind of out of place though, doesn"t it?」

「Yeah you"re right. But just the process of creation is fun to me.」

And after that we killed some more time with small talk.
Seems he was fed up with the heat too, and took【Heat Resistance】a long time ago.
Fay told me he learnt【Fire Magic】and that he"s preparing to learn【Resist Fire】.
I also brought up random skills I"ve learnt as conversation topics.
Well, Fay still looked impressed at them so I"m not complaining.

「Well this job has a shift system, so working doesn"t feel so bad. You get some time in excess too, this way your time for hunting won"t be restricted either.」

「Is that so? This job has a shift system?」

「Yeah, in total we have eight hours. If you don"t take a break in the middle even with【Heat Resistance】, you"ll feel like dying by the end of it.」

「And yet you still have time left over?」

「We"re not allowed to do overtime work. If it were allowed we"d probably see some NPCs actually keel over and die」

Not that I know anything, but I"d imagine that"d make your job pretty tough.
With an increase in players, I"d expect the potion shortage issue to only get worse after all.

「Seems like you"re having it pretty rough, huh?」

「Well give them some time and the players will learn recovery magic.」

「Oh. Good point.」

「If you raise an elemental magic skill to Lv.3, you can learn recovery magic. I"m raising my fire magic at the moment for that.」

「I see…」

There were still lots of things I had to learn.
Now that I think about it, if more players learnt recovery magic, it would give the potion shortage issue some relief.
An imbalance in supply and demand right from the early stages of the game. You"d be forgiven for thinking it was a trap set by the developers.
I"m not Fiona, how did I even come up with that idea.

After a while it was time to get back to work.
Alongside Fay, I made empty potion bottles.
It was obvious that Fay"s pace was a lot faster than mine.
He could make three in the time it took me to make two.

I got him to show me his work, and after using【Appraise】I saw that all of them were Grade C.
To contrast, mine were Grade D+, with an occasional C- sprinkled in.
According to Fay, if he took it slow and he was under no pressure, he could do a Grade B-.

Hmm…
This is his main job, but it still felt pretty annoying.
No matter how much I raised my base stats using magic or support skills, I was just a summoner.
I won"t be unreasonable.

「I think I"ll stop around here.」

After eating lunch in the workshop and a few shifts, it looked like Fay"s time was up.
Working next to each other, it really was just a one-sided battle. Our difference in skill didn"t shrink at all.
But I definitely managed to get some results.
I started to see Grade C a few times here and there.
And I"ve started seeing Grade D+ a lot less. Over half of my work was a Grade C- by the end.

「Ohh, good work today. If it"s like today I"ll be glad if you could come again tomorrow!」

Looks like Nils has good memory.
I got praised for doing my work until the time limit.

「This is a subst.i.tute quest completion certificate! If you can make it, please do come tomorrow too!」

He handed me something that looked like an oval-shaped lump of gla.s.s.
Translucent with a green tinge.
I guess I"ll just hand this to the adventurer"s guild counter?
I just got in the groove so honestly I wanted to keep making bottles for a while, but since working conditions were so severe there"s nothing I could do.
I"ll keep my chin up and take my leave.

《Your friend has sent you a message.》

On my way to the adventurer"s guild a message arrived.
It"s from Reina.

『Production Complete! I used kaya wood! I"ll be near the village Legias for a while! I need to negotiate raw material prices!』

Very high energy as usual.
The included screenshot showed Reina with a staff. It looked like just the right size for staff skills.
No, I suppose in this world they call it a rod.
I used【Appraise】on it.

【Weapon: Staff】Kaya wood Rod　Grade C+　Rarity 2
AP+2　M・AP+3　Power 2　Weight 1　Durability 90
A weapon that can be used to deal physical damage or cast spells.
It has some elasticity and won"t slip out of a hand. Easy to use.
An item with a beautiful texture.

Its magical attack power is higher, huh.
I"m glad she responded well to my request.
Let"s send a quick reply.
It"s rather late now, so I"ll get the staff tomorrow instead.
There"s a chance I might suddenly have to help out Master with something.

For now, let"s return to the adventurer"s guild and get my compensation.
I looked at the horse parking spot, but I didn"t see Master"s battle horse.
He"s probably not in the building anymore.

When I handed the counter the green lump of gla.s.s, I got a 100 Dyn coin in return.
Looking at the money I received, I got a rather strange feeling.
Well, the money I can earn from selling potions doesn"t come every day.
For working half a day, and getting free lunch, I suppose it"s not that bad.

The usual staff member I"ve become acquainted with wasn"t there, so I was hesitant to ask about Master.
Let"s get out of here and do some hunting.
I still have some free time until evening.
It will help Obsidian get used to hunting in both the forest and the plains too.

I headed towards the plains.
My MP bar was at a little above half and naturally regenerating.
I"m preparing to cast a spell.
To be more specific,【Physical Enchant: Wind】.

Wind magic was the first skill I took, and I"ve been using it to fit the occasion.
But once it reaches it Lv.3 I can learn recovery magic.
So I"m using wind magic to get to Lv.3 faster.
That"s my goal here.

There was another spell that I haven"t used nearly at all that I wanted to try.
The earth magic spell【Dowsing】
This spell is used for finding ores and minerals both on and inside the ground.
It lasts for five minutes, and it has a range of 10 meters into my surroundings when I use it.

Right now I"m using Zangetsu as my method of transportation.
A lot more efficient than just walking around with the skill activated.
In fact, I soon found some obsidian rocks. I ignored the responses from inside the ground and only paid attention to those on the surface.
I wanted to save the trouble of getting off the horse every time, so I got my owl Obsidian to pick them up.
The obsidian rocks were picked up by Obsidian. Obsidian picked up the obsidian. Both work.
Completely by accident, I promise.

Of course, I also hunted Horn Rabbits and Wild Dogs.
Maybe because Wild Dogs didn"t have any drops and weren"t very popular targets, I felt like there were quite a lot of them.
No, it was obvious. They were making finding any Horn Rabbits pretty difficult.
Because there were so many Wild Dogs, my haul for today wasn"t that good. Looked like the plains weren"t a very good place for hunting anymore.

I quickly finished my hunting in the plains and headed towards the forest.
I was looking for female wild pheasants.
I had that in mind but when I got there, I saw something terrible.
Way too many players.
Now, usually we wouldn"t get in one another"s way when hunting, but this time I"ll have to seriously focus on the others.
After all, I was riding a horse.
I wouldn"t want to hit anyone.

While telling myself there was nothing I could do, I moved along the road, looking for an empty-looking hunting ground.
But going into a forest with Zangetsu was, at its core, a difficult task.
For someone with my level of horsemanship, that is.
I thought of changing my Summon Monsters, but then I noticed something else.
It"s coming.
A stray horse.

There"s no way I would know how horses communicate with one another.
But this stray horse looked extra excited after laying its eyes on Zangetsu.
I saw something pretty strange too when I used【Identify】on it.

Stray Horse Lv.3
Monster　Enemy Target　Active・Enraged

Enraged…

I remained calm.
Zangetsu remained calm.
Obsidian also remained calm.
Alright, everyone"s good.

In the next moment, it looked like Zangetsu caught the enraged status.
He started to chase after the stray horse.
Like he suddenly reverted to being a wild horse.
Zangetsu repeatedly rammed into the stray horse, and I was struggling to stay on.
I felt a pain race up my right foot.
Looks like I need to take control here.

While telling Obsidian to attack the stray horse, I tried my best to calm down Zangetsu.
I sharply pulled on the reins and shouted.
It took some time, but I finally managed to calm him down.
Ahh, that was dangerous.
I"m especially glad I didn"t fall off.

I wonder how the stray horse did.
In response to Obsidian"s annoying jabs from the sky, it stopped moving around.
Both Zangetsu"s and the stray horse"s HP bar dropped by 30%.
Man, runaway horses are scary.
From just ramming into each other their HP dropped by that much.

I gave Zangetsu a recovery pill.
With the pill"s magic, his HP would regenerate for a while.
This time I have Obsidian with me.
I remember how last time I encountered a stray horse, it ran away in the middle.
Well since my feet are far slower than a horse"s it was unavoidable.
But now it"s different.
With Zangetsu, even if they ran away, I would be able to chase and catch them.
I won"t let you get away this time.

At first I thought I could take it out somehow.
But when its HP bar dropped to half, its behaviour changed.
It started running away.
Just like last time.
Even on Zangetsu"s back, I was having trouble chasing after it.
Since I had some equipment and luggage on Zangetsu, chasing after it became pretty difficult.
With【Physical Enchant: Wind】supporting me, I felt like I was finally gaining ground on it.
In total, I used【Physical Enchant: Wind】thrice.
I ended up chasing after it for over 30 minutes.
A long time.

Anyway, during the chase I feel like I pa.s.sed by the village Legias.
I feel like I saw some other player parties too, but they didn"t pay me any attention.
Also, attacking on horseback was pretty difficult.
Completely different from swinging my rod randomly at rabbits and dogs.
My opponent was a heavyweight.
I tried to put as much weight as I could into my attacks, but that would only be possible if I used both hands.
I tried to remain on the saddle by digging both my armour-covered legs into Zangetsu"s sides.
I didn"t even hang on to the reins for control.
I had both of my hands on the rod, and continued attacking.
I also used magic here and there.
Honestly, when I finally defeated it I was in a state of total exhaustion.
Mostly emotionally.

《【Wind Magic】Level Up!》
《You have acquired the【Wind Magic】spell【Resist Wind】!》
《You have acquired the【Wind Magic】spell【Wind Heal】!》
《You have acquired the【Wind Magic】spell【Wind Cutter】!》
《【Cooperation】 Level Up!》

Ohh!
My long-wished-for recovery magic has come!
What a joyous occasion.

I got off Zangetsu and checked my spell list.
【Wind Heal】was really there.
Zangetsu"s HP bar was at about 80%. It looked like the recovery pill"s effect had faded.
I don"t have that much MP to waste, but I really want to try this skill out.
I quickly chose【Wind Heal】and used it.

「Wind Heal!」

Zangetsu"s HP bar didn"t max out, but it went up to over 90%
About as effective as a potion?
But I doubt it has the same cooldown time a potion does.
Well, depending on the situation, I can use a recovery pill too. The more options I have, the better.

Digging into the stray horse"s dead body with my survival knife, I pulled out a pretty heavy-looking item.

【Material】Wild Horse Hide　Raw Material　Grade C　Rarity 2　Weight 5
The hide of the hind part of a Stray Horse. Thick but elastic. A single sheet can sell for a high price.

Oh, that"s heavy!
I somehow managed to fit in inside an《Item Box》so that was a save.
Obsidian took no damage.
Well, that was to be expected. There was no occasion where he was in real danger of taking an attack from the stray horse.
Just agitated the stray horse and got it to stay still.
That was some nice work.
Sorry, I don"t have any raw meat for you today.
Summon Monsters didn"t need food but a snack as a sign of grat.i.tude was a different story.

Seems like I ended up quite far away from Master"s house.
I was running around for quite a while back there. Let"s take it easy while returning.
I avoided the main road and headed straight to Master"s house. There weren"t any real fights along the way.
Instead of fighting monsters, I got to collect some healgra.s.s.
I used【Dowsing】and collected some obsidian rocks too.
My haul for today wasn"t just from monsters.

Protagonist　Keith
Race　Human　Male　Racial Lv4
Job　Summoner Lv3
Bonus Points Remaining 11

Skill Sets:
Staff Lv3　Punch Lv2　Kick Lv2　Joint Lock Lv2　Throw Lv1　Evade Lv2　Block Lv2　Summon Magic Lv4
Light Magic Lv2　Wind Magic Lv3（↑1）　Earth Magic Lv2　Water Magic Lv2　Alchemy Lv3　Pharmacy Lv2　Gla.s.smaking Lv1
Cooperation Lv4（↑1）　Appraise Lv3　Identify Lv3　Cold Resistance Lv2　Grab Lv2　Horsemanship Lv2　Precise Manipulation Lv2（↑1）　Jump Lv1　Heat Resistance Lv1

Equipment:
Beginner"s Rod　Wild Rabbit Breastplate+ Series　Snow Ape Armguard　Cloth Shoes　Rucksack　Item Box x2

Items:
Survival Knife

Monster Summons:
Volff　Wolf Lv3 (Asleep)
Zangetsu　Horse Lv2
Helix　Hawk Lv2 (Asleep)
Obsidian　Owl Lv1