kscans

Chapter 9 - Battle Preparations

Two weeks had passed since Hayato had made Esha and Ash his companions.

A clan could have up to ten members. Hayato had tried to fill the remaining seven slots, but unfortunately, he had failed. Mercenaries were far too expensive, and his negotiations with other strong-looking NPCs had not resulted in them joining him.

But that problem had been solved.

It was decided that seven members from Ash's mercenary group would participate in the Clan War. After hearing Hayato's story, Ash had said he wanted to prove that Hayato was no burden.

As for Hayato, he didn't particularly care whether he was a burden or not, but he accepted the offer. The roster for the Clan War had to be finalized one week before the battle. After that deadline, even if someone joined the clan, they couldn't participate in the Clan War. And no one could leave the clan either. They would have to fight with the members they had.

Once the opponent was decided, they had the remaining week to devise countermeasures. For a combat-focused player, this was the time to think about coordination with team members and strategy, but Hayato was a production player. His main job was to prepare items before the Clan War began.

First up was food. Generally, players often had their stats and skills optimized. The differences came down to the player's own physical abilities, their equipment, and stat-boosting dishes.

The standard dish for warrior types was Dragon Steak. It had an effect that increased attack power by 50% for thirty minutes. Any high-ranking clan would definitely have this prepared. Hayato could make Manga Meat, which boosted attack power even further, and he currently had three of them. But he decided not to use them this time.

His newly formed clan was, of course, brand new, so its rank was the lowest, F-rank. There were several matching formats, but this time he had chosen Random Match, so the opponent would also be F-rank.

He planned to check on the opponent soon, but Hayato figured there was no way an F-rank clan could prepare Dragon Steak in the first place.

So, for food, he decided to prepare Roast Cockatrice Skewers, which could be made with inexpensive ingredients.

A Roc was a giant bird monster and difficult to defeat, but the ingredient, Cockatrice Meat, dropped in large quantities, making it possible to acquire cheaply. Sometimes players who had defeated one would sell it off at a bargain just to clear out their overflowing item bags and base storage.

It had the effect of increasing attack power by 20% for 30 minutes, which Hayato figured would be more than enough for this battle.

And then there was the Melon Juice requested by his maid, Esha. It was a juice-type dish that instantly restored MP, but the ingredient, melons, was expensive. Orange Juice had the same effect, but Esha had insisted, so Hayato had reluctantly gathered the materials.

However, Hayato wasn't actually that upset about it. It was his way of thanking her for providing him with new recipes, which had turned out to be for high-performance dishes. But he swore to himself that next time, it would be Orange Juice.

Next, he needed to prepare equipment. That being said, Esha, Ash, and the members of the mercenary group who would be participating all had their own unique gear.

Hayato figured he didn't need to prepare new equipment, but he wondered if their durability was okay.

Equipment in this game basically had a value called durability. It decreased with every battle, and if it reached 0, any piece of equipment would break. This was true even for super-rare, high-performance gear. When it broke, some materials would be left over, but it couldn't be restored from those alone. So, repairs to restore durability before it broke were necessary.

After finishing his food preparations, Hayato moved to the first floor of the log house. It was about time for Ash to arrive with the materials for Elixirs.

"Good, looks like Ash is here too. Esha, Ash, if you have any equipment you want me to fix, hand it over. I'll take care of it."

"I see. You want me to take off my clothes. That's sexual harassment."

"No, that kind of reaction really puts me in a bind. My goal is to repair your equipment, so please stop."

(What am I going to do if I get my account suspended for harassment? Wait, am I the one being sexually harassed? Which is it?)

"Hey, stop bothering Hayato. You're just teasing him because you know it gets a reaction, right?"

"Master has such good reactions, I just can't help myself. I have no choice but to say, you are truly my master."

"Why is it that I don't feel happy about this at all? Anyway, sexual harassment aside, what'll it be? My Sewing Skill and Blacksmithing Skill are both at the max of 100, so whether it's clothes or armor, I can fix it perfectly."

"Rest assured, Master. My maid outfit is equipped with Self-Repair, so it's good as new after a day. The same goes for this White Brim and Maid Apron. They are true works of art."

"I feel like that could also be called a waste of fine craftsmanship. Self-Repair is an incredibly rare effect, but it ended up on a maid outfit. And who even made it?"

The Self-Repair effect was said to be randomly applied during item creation. The probability was said to be less than 1%. Even with Self-Repair, the item would break if its durability was reduced to 0 in a single day, but if you unequipped it before it broke, the durability wouldn't drop, making it a highly valued effect.

"My equipment doesn't need any repairs either. It has a special effect, so its durability hardly ever goes down."

"Oh yeah, that's right."

(The Dragon Eater and the full Death Dragon Armor set. Yeah, with those, durability isn't an issue.)

Several days ago, Hayato had been shown Ash's status. At that time, he had also been shown all of his equipment.

Unlike Esha, Ash had a normal skill composition. It was no different from a regular player's. But his equipment was another story. It was clearly superior to even Legendary-grade equipment.

The greatsword called Dragon Eater had an effect that dealt five times the damage to dragons, but it also had an effect called Blood Weapon, which absorbed a portion of the damage dealt to restore HP. Furthermore, it was a cheat weapon that restored not only HP but also the equipment's durability. Hayato had rubbed his eyes and looked at the effect over and over again.

And then there was the Death Dragon Armor. Ash wore armor with the name 'Death Dragon' on his upper body, lower body, arms, and feet. Each piece's performance was what you'd expect from high-end armor, but equipping all four granted an additional Set Bonus.

A Set Bonus was a system where equipping related pieces of armor or weapons would unlock a hidden effect.

The Set Bonus gained from the Death Dragon Armor series was Physical Immunity. It was an effect that, at will, made the user completely impervious to physical attacks for one minute. They would still take damage from non-physical attacks like fire, but depending on the opponent, it could make you invincible for a minute. It was another cheat-level piece of equipment.

(If you don't take damage, your durability doesn't decrease. Even with a ten-minute cool down time, it's an unbelievable effect. But this could be considered a trump card. I'll ask him not to use it in this Clan War. He should save it for when we fight higher-ranked clans.)

"But Hayato, while my gear doesn't need maintenance, I have another favor to ask."

"A favor?"

"Could you make a full set of equipment for the mercenary group members who are participating? They have their own gear, but they're bad at maintenance and it's pretty beat up. Of course, we'll provide the materials."

"What, is that all? Of course, I don't mind. If you give me the materials, I'll get right on it."

"Thanks. I'll have them brought over right away."

Since the equipment would have to wait for the materials to arrive, Hayato just took the Elixir materials from Ash and returned to his room.

This time, it was to prepare medicines.

The Elixir he was making to help Ash's sister, as evidenced by him just receiving the materials from Ash, still hadn't been made at the highest quality. But since he could make most of them at three stars, just handing those over made Ash happy.

As for that Elixir, just like Dragon Steak, it was something mostly prepared by high-ranking clans for Clan Wars. But even in his previous clan, Hayato had often prepared highest-quality potions.

That was because their cool down time became 0, and in terms of probability, he could make them 10% of the time. He mass-produced potions that could be drunk consecutively. Hayato himself didn't fight, but he believed this was undoubtedly a source of strength. The proof was that it had been well-received by his former clan members.

(I wonder if that clan is doing okay. You need this pendant to mass-produce highest-quality potions. Maybe I should have explained it properly. Well, I left a stockpile behind, so they should be fine for this Clan War at least.)

Feeling a little uneasy, Hayato began mass-producing potions.