Published at 26th of March 2019 12:54 am

Volume 11, Chapter 1 - New Year's Update and Ability Expansion

"Oh, the New Year's update's information is up."

When the New Year's countdown and the magic fireworks show ended, and the surroundings have calmed down, Taku opened the menu and said so.

We too, opened our menus and checked on the update information, but there was very few things written there, making me perplexed.

"Several quests added, items added and balance changes?"

There wasn't a single detail written there, but Taku and Myu looked somewhat convinced by this.

"It means we have to search by ourselves."

"Greeaat! Let's go search for quests——"Wait a sec!"——"

Sei-nee and I grasped Myu's shoulders as she tried to break into run while still wearing miko clothing.

"We're going for the first shrine visit, right? You're the one who said you want to go, no escaping."

"This makes onee-chan saaad. To think you would leave us just like that, Myu-chan."

I rebuked her with reason, Sei-nee appealed to her feelings.

As a result Myu lost her voice and high spirits.

"I'm sorry, I was too hasty."

Since Myu honestly apologized, Sei-nee pat her head with a warm smile. I also put up a mixed expression as I stared at her.

And then I looked towards Taku and asked.

"Are you going with us, Taku? For the New Year's first shrine visit in the cathedral."

"Indeed, everyone going together would make it more fun. It shouldn't be crowded now."

I invited Taku, and Sei-nee had agreed with my proposal.

The New Year's celebrations ended and players have split up and started to look for the new quests and items added by the update.

Certainly, the number of people gathered in the cathedral should decrease in this situation.

Taku's gestured made it appear that he thought for a moment about our proposal, so I asked him whether he has some other plans.

"Did you have something to do? Like, meeting up with Gantz and others?"

"No, I don't have any. Everyone from our party is busy with the New Year's so the log in times are completely disjointed, we decided that for a week after the New Year's we'll play as we like alone."

"Is that so."

Hearing that, Sei-nee said something similar.

"As I thought, it's the same everywhere, isn't it. Mikadzuchi said that she's busy with the New Year's drinking parties and such, and won't be able to log in often until everything calms down."

"It's just the New Year's, but still, is it really okay for your two on top not to function properly? O' greatest of guilds."

Hearing my retort, Sei-nee who was the sub-master of the 【Eight Million Gods】 guild smiled, and said "it's okay".

"I gave out instructions, and there's plenty of other skilled players so there's no problem."

She said. Meanwhile, Myu who was in low spirits had recovered, and energetically spoke up.

"Instead of talking forever here, let's change and go to the cathedral!"

"Hurry up and change, I'll wait here."

"Got it, then…"

Prompted by Taku to change clothes, I took Myu and Sei-nee with me, then entered the Commonest store's dressing room.

There, I changed from miko clothes to my Ochre Creator's winter version and exited the dressing room, Myu and Sei-nee also came out at nearly the exact same timing and the three of us headed towards where Taku was waiting.

"Sorry to make you wait, let's go."

"Yeah."

When leaving the 【Commonest Café & Clothier】 I approached Cloude to give back the miko outfits, but ended up receiving them as gifts.

Although I made an awkward expression, Myu and Sei-nee looked a little happy so I couldn't get angry at him there, and had to receive it.

We left the store and headed for the cathedral, I watched as Myu and Sei-nee have stopped by stalls to check goods and prices, and walked side by side with Taku.

"Heey! Yun-oneechan! Taku-san! Hurry up and come or we'll leave you behind!"

"Fufufu, when was the last time we went for New Year's shrine visit like this, with just the four of us? It does feel nostalgic."

Myu called us out with a loud voice, and Sei-nee appeared to be lost in nostalgic thoughts. The sight made Taku and me smile wryly, and speed up the our walking pace.

When we covered a bit of the distance——"Foock, enjoying a harem right from the start of the new year, huh?!" "A riaju in both game and in real, peh. Goddammit!" "An older, same age, and younger girls all with childhood friend attribute, and all three being sisters to boot. What kind of galge is that?!"

Hearing voices saying such things, I turned around and saw multiple male players who looked like they'd start crying tears of blood at any time. Taku and I are guys, and most of the parties around us had high male ratios if anything.

Was there a harem party somewhere near? I stopped moving and wondered.

"Yun, what is it? Myu-chan and Sei-san are waiting."

"Ah, sorry."

Together with Taku we chased after the other two and arrived at the cathedral.

There were still more players than usual inside, but we were able to enter the cathedral smoothly.

The space inside was lit by the faint light from the candles and the moonlight pouring inside through the stained glass, displaying colorful art on the floor.

Although usually there were few people here, now players have taken turns praying in front of the goddess' statue.

Still, the way everyone prayed was different and some knelt before it, others just joined hands, or followed real shrine's manners. Seeing the players acting all freedom, I put on a bitter smile.

Then came our turn.

"All right, let's pray."

Along with Taku's words, Sei-nee and I closed our eyes to pray, but in the middle of it we heard sound of hands clapping. It seemed like Myu and Taku followed real shrine's manners to pray.

Even when praying each of our personalities showed, I thought as I spoke this year's wish in my mind.

("This year too, I wish all my acquaintances were healthy and we all have fun.")

When I finished making a wish, I felt a gaze from the side so I opened my eyes, and saw Myu peeking at me from the side.

"…What is it, Myu?"

"Nothing, I just wondered what did you wish for, Yun-oneechan."

Hearing the two of us, Sei-nee and Taku also finished praying and looked this way.

"Oh, I want to know too. What did you wish for, Yun-chan?"

"Ngh, then what did you wish for, Myu, Sei-nee?"

It felt embarrassing to one-sidedly reveal my own wish, so I asked them first. Myu and Taku puffed up their chests and responded.

"I wished I can level up and fight strong enemies!"

"I wished for a new sword to join my weapon collection!"

Really, these two… I stared at the two intently, but meanwhile Sei-nee had stared into distance as said——

"I——wished I got some rare drops."

("""——So earnest!""")

Probably because of greed sensor, Sei-nee had such a bad luck that she almost never receives the items she wants from actual drops.

Hearing her earnest wish for that to be fixed, Myu, Taku and I all have cried in our hearts, unable to say anything about her lack of luck.

Realizing what our silence meant, Sei-nee tried to change the atmosphere by asking me this time.

"Everyone said what they wished for, now it's your turn, Yun-chan. It's not fair for just us to be the only ones."

"Ehh?! Um… uh, it's kinda embarrassing…"

"Nope! We all said what we wished for, you have to as well, Yun-oneechan! I won't forgive you otherwise!"

It was just a normal wish, is what I wanted to say, but I ended up answering despite the embarrassment.

"I wished for my acquaintances to be healthy and have a lot of fun, something like that… hey, c'mon! If you have something to say, SAY IT!"

When I answered while turning my gaze away, I received lukewarm stares from Myu and the other two, feeling even more embarrassed.

"Yun-oneechan's always thinking of others, that's why I love you!"

"Yes, Yun-chan is really kind."

Still looking at me lukewarmly, Myu clung onto me and Sei-nee pat my head. Because of that I grew even more embarrassed than before I said what was my wish, and started walking out of the cathedral to escape.

"We're done with the visit, right. I'm going back! I'll go back and go to sleep!"

But I was stopped by Myu.

"You can't! You can't go back yet! We're doing a newly updated quest together!"

"Kyaa?! Myu, where are you touching! Ah c'mon, fine, just get away!"

When clinging onto me from behind to stop me from moving, Myu put her hands under my winter clothes and started touching my chest and sides. In order to release myself I ended up agreeing to helping everyone out with searching for the new quests.

Taku who watched all of that with a smile, pat my shoulder lightly.

"You sure are soft on Myu-chan."

"I know, you don't have to tell me."

Haa, I sighed and chased after Myu who exited the cathedral while humming a song.

"At worst, this might turn into an all-nighter where we won't find anything, I hope we don't get all the info from websites later."

"Ahaha, that's… well, I can't deny it."

When I muttered, Sei-nee laughed dryly, but my fears have been blown away by Myu right away.

"Onee-chans! I found one already!"

"That was fast!!"

We barely left the cathedral and yet Myu already pointed in a certain direction.

When I looked the way she pointed, there was an entrance to a small park. Inside, stood a single adult priest in front of which a line of players had extended.

"Is that a quest NPC added by the update?"

"No, that NPC was there before, too."

"Right, he sold holy water, didn't he."

According to Sei-nee's explanation, he was selling an item that could turn active undead mobs non-active for a short period of time.

Hearing that it could be used as item for crafting, I was a little happy with the find.

"Maybe I should buy some of it. Still, that atmosphere doesn't feel like they're lining up to buy stuff."

The line in front of the Priest NPC clearly wasn't for purchasing items. Entire parties spoke to the Priest NPC before slipping out from the line, after which they started to consult among each other. There were also those who, after speaking shortly with the Priest NPC, were disappointed and left. However, there was no one who bought or sold anything.

We could only judge based on the few words we managed to hear, but there was talk of items, enemy mobs and errands.

"What's happening?"

"Don't know, we might as well ask!"

Myu said so, and immediately stood in the very end of the line. We smiled bitterly and lined up next to her.

And then to kill some time, we exchanged information with the players in front. Although indirectly, we grasped some information about the quest.

It was the Sense Expansion Quest.

In order to pick the quest up, it was necessary to spend 50SP and clear a few randomly generated quest stages, before finally clearing the quest to receive the reward that was an additional Sense slot. Or so it seemed.

"Sense expansion quest, huh?"

There, I checked my Sense Status window.

Possessed SP64

【Longbow Lv31】【Magic Bow Lv10】 【Sky Eyes Lv17】 【See-Through Lv29】 【Sorcery Lv20】 【Earth Element Talent Lv30】 【Enchant Arts Lv44】 【Taming Lv30】 【Dosing Master Lv12】 【Physical Attack Increase Lv10】

Unequipped:

【Bow Lv50】 【Swiftness Lv22】 【Alchemy Lv45】 【Synthesis Lv45】 【Engraving Lv26】 【Crafter's Knowledge Lv7】 【Cook Lv15】 【Swimming Lv15】 【Linguistics Lv25】 【Climbing Lv21】 【Bodily Resistance Lv5】 【Spiritual Resistance Lv4】 【Pre-Emptive Knowledge Lv10】 【Vital Points Knowledge Lv10】

I had 64SP so I fulfilled the requirement for taking the quest, but I wasn't really eager to take it now, which was sharply noticed by Taku.

"What is it, Yun? You don't look too eager."

"No, it's just that if I take the quest together with you, I'll feel bad for your parties' members and other comrades afterwards."

Myu had a party Lucato and others.

Sei-nee had the 【Eight Million Gods】, including Mikadzuchi.

Taku had his party with Gantz and others.

Aside from me, they all had their own party members and comrades. I wondered if it was really okay for the three to ignore them like that, just to take the Sense Expansion Quest with me, I felt a little guilty about it.

After I voiced my opinion, my right hand that was holding onto the winter clothing near the chest, was wrapped around by Sei-nee's both hands.

"You really are kind, Yun-chan. But you don't have to worry, I already decided to stick with you two these entire holidays."

Hearing those words, I lightly opened my eyes.

"Is that really okay? Sei-nee."

"Yup. It's a rare chance for me to do some adventuring together with you and Myu-chan. In which case, we might as well do the Sense Expansion Quest with the three of us, how about it?"

"Sei-oneechan! You're forgetting Taku-san! Let's have him join and beat it with the four of us, a childhood friend's party!"

"It looks like you're feeling guilty that we're doing this quest ahead of our own parties, but this quest's challenges are given out randomly. As long as we somehow don't get the same challenges, we can still enjoy the new ones. Plus, Gantz and others won't mind anyway."

Said Taku, then Myu and Sei-nee also nodded.

"Then it's fine if we take it together?"

When I once again asked to make sure, Myu and Sei-nee stood on my both sides, then hugged and started patting my head.

"Oh Yun-oneechan, you should have more confidence!"

"Fufufu, there's nothing you need to worry about, Yun-chan."

Surprised by the action taken by the two I stiffened, then feeling lukewarm stares from the surroundings I started feeling embarrassed.

"C'mon everyone, it's our turn."

"Sure…"

Along with Taku's words I was released from the two, but had started feeling uneasy about the Sense Expansion Quest that we were about to undertake.

"Welcome on this fine day. What do you need of me?"

"Tell us about the quest, pleasey!"

When Myu energetically responded, the Priest NPC went "Hmm" and appeared to be thinking something, then after a moment took a look at us.

That moment, our menus opened by themselves and our Sense Status window was displayed.

"All of you appear to diligently work towards polishing your talents. In which case, as the representative of our Goddess I shall bestow upon you fitting trials. If you overcome them, your talents shall further expand."

There, the menu had displayed a new window.

——Special Quest 【Sense Expansion - Three Trials】 is available for undertaking.

※This quest requires consumption of 50SP in order to undertake. Upon finishing the quest, the player receives a new equipment slot for Senses and a free Sense to pick up along with it.

In case of the quest's failure, SP is returned to the player.

Below the quest's explanation there was a field with 【YES／NO】 choice, we selected 【YES】.

"I shall now bestow three trials upon you. The trials themselves will involve gathering, aid and subjugation. Once you complete all three trials, return to me once again."

Here, the Priest NPC paused for a moment.

"The three trials I bestow upon you are——

●

"Allll right, let's do thiss!"

Myu energetically raised her voice in front of the Abandoned Village's portal, where we arrived and which stood near Wisteria Peach Three's hill.

In the darkness of the late night, we started walking, relying on the ball of light that Myu conjured.

"This Sense Expansion Quest's trial content is a bit, y'know, that. I wish we got something simpler. Also, I think we don't have to get on it right away, it's dark and the footing is bad…"

I voiced my opinion, but Myu's motivation didn't appear to dwindle anyhow.

"Personally, the harder it is the more fired up I get."

"Keh, you damn game freak."

I turned a resentful gaze towards Taku, but was immediately rebuked by Sei-nee.

"Calm down, Yun-chan. Rather than that, are you doing okay here?"

"Well, I have 【Sky Eyes】 Sense so I have no problems with the darkness… but I'm still anxious about this."

The three trials that we have been given for the Sense Expansion Quest were——

Gathering Quest: Collect a 【Unfertilized Wyvern Egg】 from Wyvern Mountains.

Aid Quest: Deliver 【Cure for Epidemy】 to the town ahead of the Highlands Area and save the sick.

Subjugation Quest: Subjugate the 【Emperor Isopod】.

It was these three.

However, among these quests there were some we lacked any information on and involved unexplored areas.

"If it's Wyvern Mountains, we'll be able to search while sneaking around, so we should manage to get a 【Unfertilized Wyvern Egg】, but…"

"But gathering quests are a pain, aren't they. I'd like more like, BOOM and cut down enemies."

"Well, I understand what you want to say, Myu-chan. If anything, I'm also bad with gathering quests."

When I started talking about probability of finding a 【Unfertilized Wyvern Egg】, Myu also voiced her opinion and Taku agreed with her with a bitter smile.

It certainly wasn't a flashy quest, but I liked gathering so I sighed inside of my mind.

"Gathering quests are Yun-chan's specialty, it'll be all right. For the Aid quest we have to get past the Highlands Area, which in fact means that it might as well be subjugation quest for the 【Lightning Horse】."

Hearing Sei-nee say so, I made a displeased expression as I looked towards her.

"Honestly speaking, I'm bad with boss battles."

"Why?! They're fun! And you get rare drops from bosses, too!"

Myu made a seriously mystified expression, but I personally have usually played solo so I don't expect or prepare for party-focused battle content. If anything, boss mobs are intense which makes me get scared. Well, I've been plenty involved with them anyway.

But if I said that here, it would tarnish my dignity as the older brother so I kept silent. Then, Taku spoke up.

"Also, this【Emperor Isopod】 is a mob I haven't heard of yet, so we might have a hard time searching for him. I guess the main part of the trial would be searching for the unknown mob?"

Although he said "hard time", Taku looked quite happy. Your face and what you say doesn't match, I said to myself.

I bet he's enjoying this situation, I thought as I stared into the distance to look up at the silhouette of the Wyvern Mountain that I could see in the night's darkness. Meanwhile Myu, growing impatient because we haven't caught up with her yet, had returned.

"C'mon! You're all slow! Hurry, we're almost in the Wyvern Mountains!"

"Hey, we're just going to collect, so we can ignore the cave, right?"

""DENIED!""

My proposal was immediately denied by Myu and Taku.

"Avoiding combat isn't fun!"

"I want a sword made from Wyvern drops, so let's gather some!"

Seeing the two like that, Sei-nee smiled bitterly.

"Then we'll leave combat to Myu-chan and Taku-kun. Yun-chan and I will support you while we search for 【Unfertilized Wyvern Egg】."

Is that okay? She asked to confirm, we agreed on that and started walking a mountain path in the night.

The lower parts where no mobs spawned appeared to be boring to Myu and Taku, who wanted to move on as fast as possible, but——

"——Oh! It's Mystic Medicinal Grass growing there! And that one's Soul Grass!"

I shouted, and rushed from the meandering path to a place with poor footing to gather herbs that grew on a slope. Because of that, our arrival at the middle part of the mountains has been delayed.

"Ughh! C'mon, Yun-oneechan! Stop gathering all those herbs! We have a different goal today, right?!"

"But, I mean…! These are materials for 【Mega Potions】 and 【MP Pots】! I want to increase my stock as much as I can!"

I declared strongly with a sparkle in my eyes. Myu responded with "ugh" and fell silent.

"My my, this time Myu-chan and Yun-chan exchanged roles."

"Yun sure turns into a different person when crafting's involved."

When Taku said so with a wry smile, Myu puffed up her cheeks and made a displeased expression, but with the next thing I said——

"Ahead of here we might get into combat with Wyverns, so how about I share some Mega Potions and MP Pots with you?"

"Really?! YAAY! I love you, Yun-oneechan!"

Good grief, what a greedy fellow she is, I laughed in my mind as I passed the items to the three. Afterwards, I gathered the items in the surroundings lit by Myu's ball of light.

Previously I was here on a time-limited quest so I couldn't stop by and gather, so this time the frustration from back then had exploded at full force and I started collecting everything within the line of sight.

Most of it were Mystic Medicinal Grass and Soul Grass, but even among the stones there were items to pick up.

"Oh, that's a high quality Iron Ore. How rare… oh, a fossil too. Speaking of which, I got a ton of these unidentified back in 【Atelier】."

I said and as I continued to collect items one by one, before I realized we arrived in the middle part of the Wyvern Mountains.

The sky was completely dark and the mountain path was steep, but there was no small mobs in the surroundings making it fairly easy to spot the enemies.

"Myu, from the front, right side. Single enemy coming!"

Using the night vision of 【Sky Eyes】 Sense and 【See-Through】 I predicted enemy surprise attacks ahead of time and relay that to Myu.

"Finally came out, huh! Let's go, Taku-san!"

"There's still some distance until Wyvern nests, but I guess we can warm ourselves up around here."

What appeared wasn't a Wyvern, but fairly smaller, medium-sized mobs called Arkeoplis.

His wings had various colors such as black, white, red and blue, and appeared to look like a mix between a bird and a pterosaur, and assaulted us at once.

After bringing him as close as possible, Taku and Myu both dodged enemy's attacks before kicking off stones nearby to slash at Arkeoplis' wings.

When the Arkeoplis lost his balance and fell to the ground as a result, the two leaped at him and crouched to deliver the finishing blows at nearly the same time, turning the mob into particles of light.

"Good job. And yes, it looks like it'll be all right if we leave combat to Myu-chan and Taku-kun."

Sei-nee said, seeing that there is no need to assist the two in combat. Hearing that, Myu puffed up her chest and Taku put up an aggressive smile.

"He-hehn, right?! I'm worth a hundred of men! And it was my attack that beat him! At this rate I'll be enough by myself to beat Wyverns!"

"I can't let that comment pass, Myu-chan. That last blow was mine obviously. Also, it's easy for me to beat Wyverns and find an egg by myself, too."

From my point of view it looked like the two got the hit in at roughly the same time, but they started competing over it.

There was no special exp or drop reward for the last attack, but the two for some reason glared at each other provocatively.

"Then Taku-san, let's have a match! Who beats more Wyverns!"

"Fine by me! Let's go!"

They said, and ran up the middle layer of the mountains to slash at the Arkeoplis coming down to attack from the black night sky.

Matching Myu's movements, the ball of light that we used as a lantern also moved away, so Sei-nee had to bring out an actual lantern from the inventory.

"Sei-nee, is it okay to just let those two roam?"

"I guess? Rather than that, Yun-chan, I want some Mystic Medicinal Herbs and Soul Herbs too, I'll gift them to some of our crafters."

"Then let's do our best and gather some materials while we search for 【Unfertilized Wyvern Egg】."

Sei-nee nodded in response to my proposal, then with me as the lead we headed towards the higher layer of the mountains while gathering items on the way.

Among items we acquired, there were herbs like Mystic Medicinal Grass and Soul Grass, as well as earth element's magic metal that was Grunrite and 【Water of Life】 that poured out of holes and gaps in rocks.

Other than that I got some of the more common Medicinal Spirit Grass and Magical Spirit Grass plus other herbs, and lower tier metal ores like Iron Ore, which I shared with Sei-nee.

Actually I wanted to search for materials a bit more broadly, but if we did that there would be a possibility of leaving the mountain path.

"I guess this much of herbs should be enough? It's about time we searched our goal that's the 【Unfertilized Wyvern Egg】."

I said and looked ahead of us, below a sphere of light where Myu and Taku were shooting down the attacking Arkeoplis.

Myu used a converged ray of light and Taku released a flying slash, the two mixed long range attacks in, in order to stand advantageous.

Squealing loudly, Arkeoplis summoned other ones, ultimately resulting in an never-ending loop. At this rate it wouldn't end until we wiped them all out at once.

The two ran ahead of Sei-nee and me, but ended up being stopped in their tracks by the mobs.

"Yun-chan, there's our chance! Let's search for the egg while Myu-chan and Taku-kun are occupying Arkeoplises!"

"Oh, yeah. Got it."

Strongly instructed by Sei-nee I nodded, and together we circled around Myu and Taku to go up the Wyvern's Mountains.

While worrying about Myu and Taku who've become decoys, we approached the upper layer without meeting any enemies and were about to search for the 【Unfertilized Wyvern Egg】…

"So, where can it be?"

The upper layer had several holes in it, and each of them was a Wyvern's nest.

"This is troubling, which hole do we check, I wonder? Yun-chan, can you tell?"

"Hmm, even with 【Sky Eyes】 I can't check the places that are hidden behind Wyvern's bodies. Oh, there's Mithril collection point in that nest hole! Also, in the other one there's the 【Healing Mushroom】 growing, it increases healing effectiveness!"

"Yun-chan…"

Sei-nee smiled bitterly seeing me get all excited about things other than the egg-searching.

"Let's check them all one by one, we can enter the holes that are empty and don't have any Wyverns in them. For the ones that have Wyverns sleeping inside, we should be able to somehow lure them out and check, how about it? Although, the lured-out Wyvern will eventually return so it might be better to beat them inside the nest instead."

The two of us checked up on a nest that had a Wyvern sleeping in it, and hid behind a rock near the entrance, preparing to lure it out.

"Okay, come——《Summon》"

I used 【Aqua Gel's Nucleus Lv2】 to summon an Aqua Gel.

"Enter that hole and put these five balls as close to the Wyvern as possible, then return."

I said, and the Aqua Gel had taken in five Magic Gems that I put on the ground, then started bouncing jiggly as he carried them to the Wyvern's den.

"Your items sure are handy, Yun-chan. I would get found right away if I tried to cast a spell inside."

"Magic Gems can attack with delay, so I can use the moment between saying the keyword and their activation to hide."

Since Magic Gems could be used like bombs with high control over when they explode, they were extremely handy items and also expendable. Synthetic mobs such as this Aqua Gel too, could cheaply and safely do the work I instructed them to do.

We decided to quietly chat a little until the Aqua Gel sets up the magic gems and returns.

"Speaking of which, Yun-chan, is your magic Sense still at 【Earth Element Talent】? Does it remain low because you aren't using it much?"

"Ahh, now that you say it, it's leveled up and can be turned into a higher Sense, actually."

I forgot, I muttered, making Sei-nee smile wryly and start explaining about the higher elemental Senses.

"It's better if you take it."

"I'll do that, then."

I opened my menu and consumed 2SP in order to change the 【Earth Element Talent】 Sense into 【Land Element Talent】.

If I just continued to use 【Earth Element Talent】 I would be able to cast the same spells, but unless I grow it into 【Land Element Talent】 I won't receive any of the new, higher rank spells.

"Huh? I didn't get any new spells."

"Of course. The higher elemental Senses don't give you many new spells, you get only one at level 10. However, as you continue to use lower level spells, eventually you might get new ones derived from those."

I listened intently to Sei-nee's explanation.

It looked like there were specific requirements for players to learn derived magic, just like there was a requirement for my 【Cooking】 Sense to acquire 《Ingredients Knowledge》.

While I thought so, Sei-nee furrowed her eyebrows and made a troubled expression.

"I think normally, by the time someone gets to the higher Sense they often already fulfill the requirements, so you not getting a single one so far is a wonder."

"I do use magic…"

Though, when I said that, I recalled a single possibility.

The 《Skill Enchant》 skill of my 【Enchant Arts】 Sense allowed me to enchant skills I possess into items, and activate it at my leisure.

Magic Gems are the very representative of the items made with that skill.

As the skill's nature dictates, by enchanting items with magic increased both 【Enchant Arts】 and 【Earth Element Talent】 levels at once.

However——what if it didn't count to the number required for the magic derivation Sei-nee spoke of…

"What is it, Yun-chan?"

"Sei-nee… actually, I might not have used magic at all."

When I muttered quietly and lowered my shoulders, depressed, Sei-nee pat my head as if to cheer me up.

And when I explained the reason, she went "oh my" with a troubled smile on her face.

"In such case, this can't be helped. Still, derived magic isn't so hard to acquire so make sure to start using your magic a bit."

"Yeah, I'll do so."

While we were talking, the Aqua Gel had finished carrying the Magic Gems and has returned.

It appeared like the non-active Wyvern did not react to a small synthetic slime-type mob, and it was able to return safely.

"Now, Yun-chan. Make it explode and we'll check what's inside the nest."

"Sure, but before that… Help me out, you guys! ——《Summon》!"

Before exploding the Magic Gems set up inside the nest, I summoned another few dozens of slime-type synthetic mobs around me, and gave them instructions.

"Everyone, quietly and stealthily enter other holes and collect all items you can find and aren't too deep in!"

Along with my instructions, synthetic mobs split up and started bouncing towards various nests.

"All right, if everything goes well, we'll get the item we're here for."

"Yun-chan, you sure find interesting way to use items. Now, again, let's check that nest."

"Okay, let's go——【Bomb】!"

I spoke the keyword to activate the Bomb Magic Gems that I had Aqua Gel leave in the nest. A flash of light could be seen coming out of the Wyvern's cave for a moment, and the multiple explosions shook the nest, disturbing the Wyvern's sleep.

『"GYAAAAAA——"』

The Wyvern who raised a howl, then peeked out of his cave, was a different species from the one I saw during the winter's Limited Quest Event. This Wyvern and was about half of the event one one's size and had green bat-like wings.

Then after running down the mountain's slope, the Wyvern took off and disappeared in the night sky.

●

"Looks like we weren't found. Well, let's examine it."

Sei-nee and I entered the nest after the Wyvern has left, and what we found after searching it was——

"Woah, they're all raw gemstones."

In the back of the Wyvern's nest, there was a small mountain of stones. All of it were medium-sized gemstones that could be used for creating Magic Gems.

"This one's a ruby, and here's a sapphire, emerald, topaz, and a garnet! There's a lot of jewel types here!"

"Hmm, quest-wise we missed, but we could say that we got a big hit when it comes to gathering. Since we found it, might as well take it all."

Sei-nee said, and split the gemstones between herself and me.

After putting them into inventory I checked how they were split, about 90% of them were gemstones and the rest were raw gold, silver and mithril ore, plus a few fossils mixed in with them.

I could identify ore and gemstones with my 【Craftsmanship】 Sense, but couldn't identify things like fossils.

Meanwhile, Sei-nee who hadn't the 【Craftsmanship】 Sense stared at a certain item.

"Hey, Yun-chan. What is this pretty gem? It shines differently depending on the angle I look at it."

"How unusual, Sei-nee! That's a Pearl-turned fossil!"

Since it was a Fossil type of item, there was a need to identify it at the specialist NPC's place, or have a Sense allowing to identify it, but at the same time it was a gemstone so I could identify it with my Sense.

There were two of them, one of them was the 【Dragon Bone's Fossil Gem】 and it was a small milky-white lustrous bone, and one more was the 【Dragon Fang's Fossil Gem】 and shone with blue color reminiscent of the sea.

"Haa, amazing. To think there were things like that among fossils."

"But, what is this used for? Does it work as a jewel?"

"Let's see, a normal Fossil would have been restored and would turn into item named 【XXX Dragon's Bone/Fang】 or something similar, but this is a fossil that turned into a gem so instead of recovering, it can be used as a Jewel-type item for crafting."

"I seee. Looks like my New Year's wish has already come true?"

Devoid of drop luck and item luck, Sei-nee muttered with a smile.

That's when——

『"GYAAAAAA——"』

Hearing a Wyvern's howl outside the cave, switched from a loose atmosphere to a tense one.

"Yun-chan, it's about time the Wyvern comes back, right? It's about time we returned."

"Got it, I don't want to meet up with him."

The cave that was the Wyvern's nest was a dead end, if he returned we would have been left with nowhere to escape.

In order to avoid that, together with Sei-nee we had to leave about 30% of the gemstones behind and quickly escape the cave.

And a moment later, the relieved Wyvern had returned from investigating the surroundings and entered the cave.

Despite the fact we stole about 70% of his gemstones, there were no signs of a fuss inside.

From there, we headed to the next nest and just like we did earlier, we lured out a Wyvern.

We looked forward to finding something nice again, and what we found was a small black and dried-up mountain of soil.

"Whoa, what's with this smell."

Sei-nee took out a handkerchief and put it against her mouth and nose, hesitating to get any closer. Bearing with the smell, I took out a scoop for farming and a jute bag for ore transportation, then scooped some of the black soil into the bag to collect it.

And once it entered my inventory, I confirmed that the item's name was——【Wyvern's Feces】.

"…Ugh, to think there's even an item like this. This nest is a complete miss."

When I muttered so, Sei-nee called out to me.

"Found anything out, Yun-chan?"

"This is a complete miss. There's no 【Unfertilized Wyvern Egg】 and that smelly thing is 【Wyvern's Feces】."

"In that case let's quickly leave this place. Uugh, I don't have any item luck after all!"

Just a moment ago Sei-nee has become slightly more optimistic, and yet she's already becoming depressed, tears appearing in her eyes.

Her quick decision to leave wasn't caused by only the fact the cave was a miss, but also by the horrid smell wafting around, I'm sure she wanted to leave even if a second earlier.

I too, had no intention of staying there for nothing, and took a step out before an idea flashed by my head.

Maybe this black soil, or rather, 【Wyvern's Feces】 could be used for 【Atelier】's herb field.

If I mixed in this unusual 【Wyvern's Feces】 with bone powder and dried grass I could make a fertilizer, that increases the number of herbs and improves their quality.

Thinking so, I turned towards the mountain of 【Wyvern's Feces】 again and filled four jute bags worth before chasing after Sei-nee out of the cave.

"Phew, the air outside is really tasty."

"…Yun-chan, you're late, what were you doing?"

Sei-nee who hasn't had her item luck improved even after making a wish in the cathedral, was hiding behind a rock so that she's not found by Wyverns, and asked me a question in powerless voice.

"I thought that feces could maybe be turned into fertilizer material for 【Atelier】's herb field, so I gathered some!"

When I explained, she looked at me with a lukewarm gaze.

"I'm so envious of how you can enjoy even a complete miss of a nest…"

Actually I felt like she didn't envy me that at all, I thought in wonder, seeing which Sei-nee chuckled and recovered her spirits.

"Yup, I'm okay now. My bad drop and item luck isn't something that started just now. We'll definitely get 【Unfertilized Wyvern Egg】 on the next try."

I nodded in response to her words. Let's move to the next one, I thought, but that moment, a pillar of red flames had risen from below the cave we were near, then several converged rays of light were fired into the sky.

"What the hell?!"

"Myu-chan and Taku-kun reached the higher layer. And by the by, they got caught up with the Wyvern we chased out of the nest and one more."

Ahead of where Sei-nee looked up to, there was the remnant of the Wyvern's fire breath which danced in the sky.

Although Sei-nee didn't have night vision, she could tell that there was two Wyverns worth of flame breath.

In fact, I could clearly tell with my 【Sky Eyes】 that there were two Wyverns.

And as the battle unfolded, Myu and Taku were——

"Taku-san, we're at the same number of enemies beat! If I beat those two Wyverns, I'll be in the lead!"

"Won't let you! I'll beat them first!"

You guys, why are you completely forgetting original goal and doing some competition there, I stared down at them with resignation. There, Sei-nee put up a slightly mischievous smile.

"Hey, Yun-chan. If we beat those two Wyverns instead, what do you think would happen?"

"Well, the two wouldn't be able to decide the match which sure will make them frustrate… ohh, I get it."

Sei-nee wanted to see their frustrated expressions and suggested we beat those Wyverns instead.

I too, felt like getting back at them for their overly "freedom" behavior, so I also put on a mean smile.

Standing in a higher position than the the two, Sei-nee and I had more than enough range to aim at the two Wyverns, we only had to wait for the right moment.

Myu and Taku cooperated with each other while at the same time, paid attention to each others' range as they fought. Meanwhile, two Wyverns' HP slowly but surely decreased.

And when they went down below 30% HP——

"Yun-chan!"

"Let's go, Sei-nee! 《Enchant》——Intelligence! 《Element Enchant》——Weapon!"

I put a magic attack increase enchant on Sei-nee, then enchanted her weapon with a water element increase enchant.

"《Zone Cursed》——Mind!"

Furthermore, I put magic defense decreasing in combination with my 【Sky Eyes】, allowing me to decrease magic defense of multiple mobs within my range of sight.

Once I prepared everything like that, Sei-nee raised her staff towards the Wyverns and swung it down.

"Fall down——《Maelstrom》!"

The point of her swung-down staff pointed below Wyverns, where water suddenly burst out and swallowed them like an explosion, then pushed high into the sky.

In front of the surprised Myu and Taku by the sudden happening, the enormous whirlpool smashed the Wyverns into mountain rocks, then rotated them fiercely.

As the power of the swirling water increased, the Wyverns smashed several rock objects while losing HP all at once.

When smashed into the rocks for the last time, the two Wyverns were caught between the rocks and high-pressure water pushing down on them. One Wyvern howled and turned into particles of light, then disappeared.

"Hmm. One of them has some HP remaining, Yun-chan, if you could."

"Roger."

Sei-nee's magic increased its power even more as compared to when I last saw it, but the first Wyvern that fell down had acted as a cushion for the second one, decreasing the damage slightly.

While Myu and Taku were surprised by the sight in front of them, they still ran out in order to finish off the nearly-dead Wyvern.

However, before that could happen, I nocked an arrow and pulled the string of my longbow, then activated an Art.

"——《Bow Skill - Arrow Stitching》!"

The single arrow released from the drawn longbow flew straight through the darkness of the night.

Although the Wyvern brought down by Sei-nee's attack spread his wings attempting to fly away again, that moment his head was pierced by my arrow. For an instant, silence befell us.

Then immediately after, the huge body fell down along with a low and loud sound that turned into a sound wave. The Wyvern fell on his side, turned into particles of light and disappeared.

"Great job, Yun-chan! Now, let's go join up with Myu-chan."

I nodded as Sei-nee cheerfully said so, and we headed towards where Myu and Taku were, dumbfounded at what suddenly happened.

"Heeey, you two, how long are you going to play around? You shouldn't forget what we came here for."

Sei-nee gently questioned the two as she showed herself, making them realize that we were the ones who finished off the Wyverns. Myu pursed her lips in displeasure, and Taku smiled bitterly.

"Mmgh, I know! But my match with Taku-san is…!"

"This will be a draw, I guess. In any case, we got the good part splendidly taken away from us by Yun and Sei-san."

Let's decide this match some other time, said Taku, making Myu get fired up again. But before that, there was something we had to do.

"C'mon, let's check up on the nests of those beaten Wyverns."

"One of these two Wyverns is the one we lured outside to check his nest, so that nest is already investigated. Let's go check the other one."

When we agreed with Sei-nee, Myu energetically raised her hand and started jumping on spot.

"I know, I knoow! I know where's the nest that one came out of, I can guide us there!"

She said and along with the momentum of her jump she broke into dash, making us chase after her again.

Then, once we entered the cave——

"Yaay, everyone! We got 【Unfertilized Wyvern Egg】!"

Myu reached the nest first, and once she arrived in the back of the cave she picked up a basketball-sized ellipse-shaped egg and turned around.

The Wyvern's egg was so big it was necessary to carry it with both hands, behind Myu there were several more of them just lying like that.

We put the 【Unfertilized Wyvern Eggs】 into our inventories and then confirmed in menu's quest tab, that the Sense Expansion Quest had one of the trials completed.

"Finally we got the first one done. We started it in the middle of the night, so I'm quite tired."

Rather than be happy over completion of the quest, the moment I realized we're done I was assaulted by a wave of tiredness and yawned.

Sei-nee looked at me with a smile.

"That's true, I'm also tired a bit. How about sleeping here for a little? Once Wyverns are beat, they won't respawn for half a day, so it's kind of like an artificial safety area."

Agreeing with Sei-nee, I spread out a sheet on the spot and took out some limited edition sweets I received from Cloude as well as tea.

Myu and Taku happily ate them, but Myu immediately started to doze off and ended up leaning on my shoulder.

Seeing her like that, I also started to get sleepy, then eventually my eyelids grew heavier as I fell asleep.

——I wonder how long have we slept.

Before I realized, I was sleeping on my back, feeling someone shaking my shoulder and opened my eyes and could see the inside of the cave was a little bright. There was something like a blanket covering my body.

"…Huh? Someone covered me with a blanket, thanks."

"Yun-chan, can you get up?"

"Yeah, no problem."

Myu, who was sleeping as she leaned at me, was now lying on her back and in her arms, she was squeezing a Heat Gel, one of my synthetic mobs.

"…Why is she squeezing that thing?"

"Fufufu, the little ones you sent to bring items from other caves have returned just a moment earlier, and this one was caught by Myu-chan."

Told so, I took a look around and saw a mountain of items in one corner of the cave. Synthetic slime mobs have gathered together and were waiting for further orders.

Imagining half-asleep Myu catching a Heat Gel who was in the middle of carrying items, I smiled pleasantly. The person herself woke up and rubbing the corners of her eyes, she let out a yawn.

"Huh? Onii-chan, Onee-chan, morning."

Still not quite awake, Myu made a fluffy smile towards Sei-nee and me before lowering her head to us. The Heat Gel she was hugging was squashed into a strange shape, which made me a little worried.

That's when Taku, who was outside the cave had returned.

"Oh, you finally woke up. I found a nice place, clean up the items and come."

Along with his words, Sei-nee, Taku and I split the items between the four of us and then put them into our inventories.

Myu, still sleepy, was drinking some tea in order to wake herself up, all this while still hugging the Heat Gel.

"Still, releasing a horde of slimes to gather items… you sure are shrewd, Yun."

"Is that so?"

When I answered like that to Taku's mutter, Sei-nee only chuckled without saying anything.

And once we recovered all the items and Myu has completely woken up, we were all led by Taku to a certain place.

The night sky right before the daybreak was the darkest, just like the real one.

Even I, with 【Sky Eyes】's night vision had slight problems seeing the road up as I followed Taku, but I could tell what's the goal.

"All right, we're here. I guess there should be about five minutes left."

Then, we waited in silence until the time for sun to climb up comes. This moment was strangely pleasant, we stared at the world being lit by the sun that slowly climbed up the sky.

"Previously we saw the sight of sun appearing, but it seems like depending on the place, the sight is also different."

Last time, we saw it from the mountainside North of the First Town so the sun climbed up from the left side, but this time we stared at it from the front.

After watching the sky for a while, we took a look at each other with sideways glances to relay a certain something, then smiling broadly, we shouted towards the sun.

『"——HAPPY NEW YEAR!"』

Although we did exchange New Year's greetings and wishes among the four of us, but this time we turned towards the sun as we said it all four at once.

With the Wyvern Mountains' quest completed, we watched the sun for a while longer, before logging out, straight from that place.

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