Cal was happy about the rake’s trait upgrade. Extremely happy.
While the upgraded trait meant that the tool would take longer to reach ‘Excellent quality’ if it was used the tool until it was nearly ruined, it was still only by two days.
Not that he would use a tool until it was almost destroyed.
If he set a limit for using a tool until it dropped to ‘Average quality,’ it would take five days to recover to its peak state. Three days if he let it recover after falling to ‘Good quality.’
“Is that what I think it is!?” Tavia almost ran to him but stopped just outside the bounds of the patch. “Cal! You have to hide it!” She immediately reconsidered her words. “No, you should sell it! Though, how can you do that without revealing it.” She looked genuinely concerned about this issue.
“It’s nothing to worry about. I have a deal with the guild exactly for this reason,” Cal said to calm her panic.
“They know you can create Rare-ranked equipment out of thin air?” She asked incredulously. “They would lock you up in a lavish prison and force you to make them continuously! It’s what any guild with sense would do.”
In all honesty, Cal had the same fears as Tavia did, except he was doing a far better job of hiding it. The reason went right back to Overseer Marek. His safety relied on the man’s power, which is very much an unknown at this point because the guildmaster did not show him any preference.
“As I said, I have a deal,” Cal repeated calmly before switching the subject. “I’m surprised that you don’t have the thought of revealing this to get some leeway from the guild.”
Huh. I suppose I am her friend.
“Ah, I didn’t mean anything by it. It was just curiosity on my part,” Cal said with a little wince. When she didn’t look mollified, he added, “I’d say the same to Oleg… worse, really.”
“Well, I don’t look like Oleg, do I?” Tavia’s tone was odd, almost like it was at the edge of something.
“Er, no?” He thought the answer was obvious.
Tavia narrowed her eyes before storming back to the house in a huff. Cal had no idea what happened, but she was somehow more furious than before.
… I don’t get it. Maybe she doesn’t like Oleg?
She told him that she didn’t want any distractions while she was a Trainee. It might have been a little lie to avoid putting the blame on Oleg’s constant presence next to him.
Cal nodded to himself in realization. That must be it. Heh. I can’t wait to see Oleg’s face after I tell him.
He chuckled as he pulled up the rake on the interface. He wanted to see how many tasks were required to get to the rake to the next rank.
[Rare Rake: Average Quality]
2. Materials Required:
- 0/10 Dragonite Scales
- 0/500 Voidiron Pellets
Cal stared for a moment. He did not expect that.
He glanced over the tasks needed for the upgrade. It was a large number, to be sure, but considering what it was for, he thought it was completely reasonable.
It was the second requirement that threw him. Well, there are three additional requirements, to be specific.
He had never heard of any tool or weapon needing to be reforged after they were made. Then again, he knew next to nothing about equipment above the Rare-rank.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
This could be the norm for all he knew. And he doubted he would get any information in the Celestial Order—outside the upper levels of the hierarchy—since the guildmaster himself only had a Rare-ranked sword.
Plus, he had no idea how to find a blacksmith skilled enough to work on this, even if he somehow gathered the materials needed, two of which he had never heard of.
He was only aware of Voidiron due to Orrin, and the kid might be the answer to his need for a blacksmith. However, that would be in the very distant future, if ever, considering how uncertain the future was at the moment.
As for the other two materials, Cal had never heard of them. ‘Earth Crystals’ sounded like something similar to the simulacra, but other than that random guess, he had no clue what it could be. As for ‘Dragonite Scales,’ he had even less of a clue since he couldn’t even guess what it could be.
The name implied it was related to dragons, but he hoped with all his heart that was not the case. Dragons were creatures of legend. They existed in the past, but nobody had seen them for well over a thousand years. Anything related to dragons, even a cracked, near-useless scale off their body, could start wars.
And that merchant, Benan, claims that the stick he sold me is a dragon bone.
Cal let out a chuckle as his disappointment lightened for a moment. But it was only for a moment. He wouldn’t be getting the rake to the next rank. It was fair, somewhat.
It would be too cheap if he could have a tool that was above the Rare rank when he didn’t even know what that rank was called. There were no books in the library that focused on anything above Rare equipment.
Even then, Rare equipment were mentioned in a few words since it was a near impossibility for anyone in the Celestial Order to possess one. Why would the guild waste money having books that explain more?
It’s something I frequently fault the guild for. A tight control on what could be learned.
He sighed and finished planting the seeds. He retreated a little distance from the patch and cast [Rainfall], but only for the shortest time possible.
With the tunnels now able to give his crops the water needed, it was no longer necessary to be too excessive with the rain.
Only a few more things left to do before I can sleep.
“Nibbles!” Cal waited for her to pay attention before continuing. “Get off the golem. It can’t work with you there.” She did so reluctantly and moved to his meditation hill to sleep.
He thought about how to word his order to the golem before speaking. “Clean up all that dug-up surface layer. You have to pick it up and walk to the pile area before throwing the debris onto a pile when you are five feet away.”
Cal thought he did a relatively good job with that.
The golem would understand the general idea he wanted, but he tried to restrict how it chose to do the cleanup so he didn’t have an incident like last time. Seeing small boulders tossing across the field was amusing, but he would prefer not to wake up to a house with holes in the roof.
He watched the golem to make sure it was doing as he expected before moving to the pond.
Cal didn’t see any changes, but he also didn’t expect to. He had only added more water several hours ago. Now, he wanted to add more.
While planting the seeds, he thought about what would be required to service all the crops from when he planted them to the harvest time. He wanted to be able to leave the crops to their own devices so he didn’t need to keep a close eye on them.
Cal could dig a much deeper channel to help in the future, but that was pointless at the moment. The channel was currently deeper than the pond, and the opposite would need to be true for him to dig deeper into it.
He imagined the pond taking up most of the space in this part of the field and eventually extending outside the bounds of the field.
… The note Overseer Marek sent me seems to have made me more comfortable than I thought. Cal stared at the pond for a second before raising his palm to point above the pond. It doesn’t matter. This can be practice to replicate if I leave.
A small, stormy cloud formed under the clear night sky before rain poured down. Unlike on the other side of the pond, he had no intention of controlling the downpour.
Unfortunately, Cal underestimated how far the water would spread. He was standing in it since the ground outside the pond was flat. The more significant issue was that the additional water he was trying to add was connected with the pond, and that caused it to overfill—precisely what he wanted to avoid.
I didn’t think this through.
He swiftly pulled up his free arm, hand facing up and in a claw. He used [Earth Barrier].
The ground at the pond's edge, where the channel was located, rumbled slightly. The shaking quickly became stronger before three-foot-high walls blocked most of the pond from expanding in an undesirable.
Cal finished the barrier by forcing the new wall to extend over the channel and fully got the expansion in control. Without much pressure pushing the water to the other side, the barrier would nudge it to go elsewhere.
He kept [Rainfall] active as he observed the new barrier he created. It looked stable enough for what he needed. It wouldn’t be a permanent solution since it was only necessary until the pond settled.
Cal soon felt his mana core close to empty, so he let [Rainfall] disperse. He grimaced as he felt his soaked boots slosh through the water and returned all the things he had used to the storage room.
Nibbles and Tavia were sleeping. The golem was doing the work he assigned it without any of its own innovative ideas. And he was finally done for the day.
He was ready for a restful night's sleep to recharge.
Cal woke to the sound of distant rumbling. His eyes ran over the gem on his dresser before he got up and exited the house.
Tavia hadn’t left her room yet. Good. She needs the rest.
He stretched as he faced the tree line until he felt a few pops and let out a relaxed sigh. It sounded like the convoy of all convoys was arriving.
There was only one thing that could be.
I’m getting more supplies. A lot of them.