kscans

Chapter 3 - The NPC's Skill Composition is Weird

"Um, Hayato-sama. Are you listening?"

"Huh? Oh, what is it?"

Hayato finally snapped back to reality at the maid Esha's words. He had been completely absorbed in thinking about who to recruit.

"About the conditions for my participation in the Clan War, if you would be so kind as to feed me these dishes, I will participate."

"Um, are they written on this paper?"

Hayato accepted the paper Esha handed him.

"Manga Meat - Five Stars, Bucket Pudding - Five Stars, Super Eclair - Five Stars."

...What is this?

Hayato tilted his head. He had made countless dishes to raise his Cooking Skill, but he had never seen or heard of the dishes written on this paper. He had never heard any talk of them becoming craftable after an update either.

Hayato could understand the "Five Stars" part. Every item had a quality rating from one to five stars, with five being the highest. But knowing the quality was meaningless if he didn't know the item itself.

"Are these dishes real? I've never heard of any of them before."

"Is that so? In that case, I shall give you the recipes."

Recipes? Isn't the list of craftable dishes in this game fixed from the start?

When cooking in this game, using a cooking item like a knife or a frying pan would display a menu. The dish and its ingredients would be shown there. Then, with the ingredients in hand, you could make the dish just by selecting it from the menu.

In other words, a dish not displayed on the menu couldn't be made. That was the common knowledge of this game.

Esha wrote something on a piece of paper she produced and handed it to Hayato.

The materials for each of the three dishes were written on the papers. When Hayato read through them, the papers vanished.

Did that just make me able to cook them?

Hayato took out his favorite cooking item, the "Adamantite Knife - Extreme," and displayed the menu. The three dishes that had been written on the recipe were now added to it.

Whoa, I've been playing this game for a long time, and this is the first I've ever heard of something like this. This information shouldn't be circulating on the internet. Could it be a system that started with the Clan War update?

Before the Clan War began, all sorts of information for conquering the game had flooded the internet. But once the Clan War started, information became closely guarded and no longer circulated online.

Adding dishes to the menu via recipes. Since that information hadn't been available before the Clan War, Hayato concluded that it might be a system that was introduced around the same time.

As a self-proclaimed production master, I'm a little frustrated that I didn't know about this. But these dishes shouldn't be sold or used anywhere. Could it be that I'm the first one in this game to get this recipe? If so, that would be great.

"Hayato-sama? How is it? Can you make them?"

"I can, but getting them to five stars will probably take a lot of tries. And the ingredients are outrageous. It would be nice if I could buy them at an auction or a shop."

Hayato checked the ingredients for Manga Meat from the cooking menu.

For Manga Meat, the only ingredient is Dragon Bone-in Meat, but that's pretty expensive. I can make the normal quality with 100% success, but the chance of making the highest quality is about 25%. I'll have to try quite a few times.

Next, he checked the Bucket Pudding.

For Bucket Pudding, it's milk, sugar, water, a Dragon Egg, and a bucket. Only the Dragon Egg is expensive. But the probability of making the highest quality is 50%. It's not a bad chance, but this one will probably also take multiple tries.

Last was the Super Eclair.

The dough, chocolate, and custard cream I already have. But I guess 'super' means big. The material consumption for one is intense. I can probably only make two or three with what I have on hand. The highest quality is 50% for this too. If I can't make it with what I have, preparing the materials will be a pain.

Hayato looked at the ingredients and success rate for each and determined it would cost a lot of money to gather them. That aside, there was something else he had to think about.

Esha is a maid. I asked her just to check, but is there any point in having her participate in the Clan War? If she can't fight, just like me, there's no point in going through all this trouble to have her join.

Hayato gazed at Esha, who was in a state of bliss after eating the parfait.

"Is something the matter? Being stared at so intently is a little... Could it be that you are looking at me in a way that says I may have another? Rest assured, my stomach can still handle more."

"That's not it. Um, I was just wondering if you'd be a valuable asset in a Clan War. The ingredients for the food are expensive, so I'm a little hesitant."

"W-wait a minute! My stomach has already decided it's eating that food!"

"It has, has it? But it's not good to use a precious Clan slot on someone who can't fight. And it just occurred to me, there's a Mercenary Guild and such. Maybe I can just hire a mercenary with money instead of going through all this trouble."

Aside from the Maid Guild, there were also the Adventurer's Guild, Mercenary Guild, and even an Assassin Guild. Hayato realized that if he negotiated well, there was a possibility he could hire their members.

"Please wait, Hayato-sama! No, Master!"

"M-Master!?"

"This Esha Crown has never once claimed to be unable to fight. I shall surely be of service! So I beg of you! Please let me eat those three things!"

"Please don't grab me by the collar. My HP is dropping a little. I haven't allocated many stats to HP, so I'm about to die."

"Then choose one. Die right here, or make the food! I recommend the food!"

"That's a threat, isn't it!? Just let go for a second! My HP is so low an alarm is going off!"

Hayato was finally released. He took a few deep breaths, then took out a Potion and drank it. His HP recovered.

Why am I being negotiated with by an AI? No, this isn't a negotiation, it's a threat. But she said she can fight. I doubt she'd lie, but without some proof... Right, I can check her skill composition. That should work. Although, can you even see an NPC's skill composition?

When it came to players, you could see their skill composition if you were a Clan member or had the other person's permission. But he had never heard of anyone seeing an NPC's skill composition. At least, Hayato hadn't.

"Can I see your skill composition? I want to decide based on that."

"My skill composition? I see, you will judge whether I can fight based on that. Very well. Please have a look."

Seriously? Could I be the first person to see an NPC's skill composition? I'm a little excited to see what kind of build she has.

Hayato looked at Esha's skill composition.

And was stunned.

What is this? Skills over 100? No way. The cap for any skill is supposed to be 100. And yet her Sniping skill is 200? What on earth do you have to do to get that?

A player's skill cap was 100 per skill. It could not go higher. But from what he saw of Esha's skill composition, she had three skills that exceeded 100. Sniping, Animal Knowledge, and Magic were all at 200.

No, wait. A skill is in the minus...?

Hayato had been captivated by the skills exceeding 100, but there was another value he couldn't overlook. It was a skill with a negative value.

Cooking, Sewing, and Animal Taming skills were all at minus 100.

Hayato became even more confused. His understanding couldn't keep up with a situation that overturned the very foundation of the game.

But he reconsidered, thinking that perhaps it was wrong to think of players and NPCs as the same. Monsters were said to have different skill compositions from players. He decided it might be natural for NPCs to be different from players as well.

"Um, are you quite finished? What do you think? I pride myself on being quite strong."

"Before that, can I ask? Why are your skills over 100? And what's with the minus?"

"Who knows? The minuses are like inherent flaws or weaknesses. No matter how hard I try, they never go up. The ones over 100 are because I worked hard."

So she doesn't know either. NPCs must have a system where having negative elements allows them to break the cap. But maybe I can break the cap too? If my production skills could exceed 100, that would open up a world of possibilities... Well, that's for later. First is Esha.

Hayato thought further.

From her skill composition, she must be a long-range attacker. A ranged damage dealer, you could say. It would be tough with just Esha, but now I know that NPCs can participate in the Clan War. If I hire NPCs for the tank and healer roles, it should be fine. Besides, gathering nine NPCs from now seems like a tall order.

"I see that you can fight, so I'll try to get the food together somehow. But I can't make it right away, so can you wait a bit?"

"Of course. I will await you while I attend to the shop."

Watching Esha raise her clenched fists in a victory pose, Hayato wondered if she was really an AI. But he had no time to ponder that question. He had to gather allies before the Clan War.

To gather the ingredients for the food, Hayato entrusted the shop to Esha and headed for town.