Since we would be spending the night in the mine, I sent out Skopi with a message to the Inn and in an hour received a response calling us back to the Inn, in the morning.

  "Now then, let us see the eggs now…" I let Bnche lead me to the pce where she left the eggs and almost instantly noticed that the two Suntypus eggs were already hatched and were being taken care of by the Kobold women.

  Simirly to ptypus from earth, Suntypus is hatched from an egg, however they don't need as much milk when growing up like regur mammals, as they can use photosynthesis like pnts, due to their fur which works as leaves. Appearance-wise, they have the body of a long-legged rat with a beaver-like tail and duck-like beak. The color of their fur is mostly dark green, but as they get older, it turns dark yellow, which in combination with their water resilient fur makes it look golden.

  Suntypus

  An adapted monster living in harsh arid pces of Sea of Stone Caniogga. Their honey-colored fur hides them in the sun coated nd. Their voices have a tendency to produce intimidating sounds, protecting them from dangerous monsters. Photosynthesis 1, Digging 1, Hardened Cws 1, Warcry 1

  "…Those are their skills," I told Bnche who was looking at the newborn Suntypus next to me.

  "Hmm, maybe if we train them, they will learn how to sing!" Bnche smiled at the little newborn.

  "We might as well… What about the remaining eggs?"

  "Still didn't hatch, it might take some time. For now, I let them stay with the kobolds as keeping them warmed up with my Vulkie takes too much magic from me."

  "Yeah, point taken. I'm going to expand the lower floors, so we have enough food to feed monsters."

  "Alright, I will start on the dinner in the meantime, then. Which floor will you be on?"

  "On the third and I might go down to the fourth to look over it. I also need to tame those newborn goblins too…"

  "Okay. Though, who would've thought that just feeding them regurly would bumped their numbers so much."

  "Well, each of the females had three to five kids, of course their numbers would grow quickly. Luckily, thanks to the training the Brass Goblin king went through, they are as docile as Snow Rabbits."

  "Haha, I know, right?"

  After that, I cleared about ten percent of the third floor for the Cave pigs, and expanded a little the fourth floor. When I was taming the goblins, some of them tried to attack me, but I easily beat them into submission, healed them and after asking them whether they wanted to continue or not. Those who did, got beaten again, healed again and asked the question again. Now they have become really obedient.

  Nothing more exciting happened in the evening and we soon hit the bed after a phenomenal dinner made by Bnche. I must say, Bnche’s cooking is getting better every time I eat it. Though, the times we cook together are much more enjoyable to me…

  In the morning, we headed back to the city via the underground route and met Nene, who was preparing breakfast for the kids. On today's menu it seemed to be mashed potatoes with garlic bread and water.

  "Master! Welcome back!"

  "Nene, I see you got back. How did it go with the ducal family?"

  "I gave them all the information I had and now they are compiling it with their own info on the organization. I'm only sad that I could only give them info on the assassin division and the people I met personally."

  "I think it's fine. We can't know what they are pnning and we should use all the time we can to strengthen ourselves."

  "Understood."

  "For that to happen, though, I might have to send you out to the wild so you can bring us information. Romi might handle a lot with her vampire servants, but you might have the most precise grip on where to find everything."

  "Indeed. I will go out in the evening and look around. I should be able to get in contact with information brokers and get some info from them… though, given how the organization can be secretive I think I will have more luck sneaking around. Oh! Did you get a letter from the duke?"

  "I did. Actually, I'm going there right away. Bnche, will you come with me? You are free to stay here with the kids, though."

  "I actually am supposed to learn how to knit from dy Laina today, so I will go with you," Bnche quickly gulped down the mashed potatoes on her finger and smiled innocently at me.

  This cute little glutton… we just finished our own breakfast!

  "Oh, and Nene, please take this."

  "Pictures? Of whom?"

  "I don't know. They were tailing me yesterday to the gates."

  "Understood, it's a good lead to follow for now."

  Saying our goodbyes, we made our way to the Inn to meet the ducal family. Since it was still early in the morning, there were only a few people walking around, most of them being adventurers on their way to the guild to get quests for themselves.

  Entering the inn, we headed right up to the Ducal family's suits, only people here were the merchants stopping by getting ready to depart.

  "Good morning," I entered the room with a polite bow.

  "Oh, Arito. Good to see you. You as well, Bnche," Henry greeted us, followed by Laina and Kalvig.

  "Lena isn't here?"

  "Oh, she is still slee—" as Laina started answering Bnche's question, the person in question entered the room.

  "I am awake now! Sorry for oversleeping!" Lena practically burst into the room, buttons on her vest were mismatched. Clearly, she was doing everything she could to make it in time.

  "Honestly, Lena dear. It is fine to be a little te, as long as you are dressed properly. You need to fix this rushing habit of yours. You will soon go to Royal academy, so you need to start minding your manners."

  "Well, getting to pces on time is also important," Kalvig chided his daughter who went into full lecture mode.

  "Well, since we are all here, let me tell you two what we will do going forward. We decided that Laina and Lena will go to visit my son for some time. Since we confirmed the presence of Reversed Sun's members being in town, I want to protect them to the best of my ability," Kalvig said with a hardened lookin his eyes.

  "Wait! That would mean I won't be able to get the Blue-Tailed Lizard!" Lena, with her vest fixed practically jumped from her seat.

  "Lena, this is no time to be selfish." Henry gave her a hard look.

  "B-but…"

  "If I may, could I know what your pn is Mr. Henry?" I asked him to break the stillness of silence.

  "Well, with the information we got from Nene, which we are still looking over, we believe there might be some kind of attack on this city and a few others. Questioning of the Puritarians revealed they have some kind of connection to the Reversed Sun, which led to the attack on us. With the new information it looks like the Reversed Sun wanted to deal with us before we reached the city."

  "It's true that since we came here, we exposed the treatment of orphans, some corrupted town officials and that dungeon that was created due to their ck of supervision," Laina added.

  "We will call for our Specialists from our home town and second and third knight orders, with them, we should be able to protect the city and find the source of all this evil."

  "If that is the case, it should be fine for Lena to stay, no? With so many people to protect you, I'm sure you could spare two to five knights to protect Lena personally, and we would help out too, right Bnche?"

  "Of course! Lena is our friend, after all!" Bnche smiled happily.

  "Arito… Bnche…" Lena got a little teary eyed.

  "Hrrm…" Henry grumbled with a significant frown.

  "It should be fine, right?" Laina smiled at her husband. "However, Lena, my dear, being selfish might hurt you one day, so I will have you increase the training and its intensity."

  "R-right!"

  Following that, I went to inform the family I was being followed and gave them copies of drawings I took of the people from st evening.

  "W-wait, Arito. Wouldn't that mean they are pnning to do something really bad to you?" Lena got possibly the most worried, at least visibly.

  "I think you should get some protection, Arito," Kalvig said with a frown.

  "It's fine. I have mercenaries in the shop and Romi in the orphanage. I pn on making some armor for the kids that were training there too."

  "What kind of material do you pn to use? If they are children, I guess you can't use metallic armor, as it is heavy," Henry asked me as he finished his tea and Raven poured him another cup.

  "Yes. I pn to buy some Murder Ant carcases and use those to make armor and weapons. I already tested it by making Herding Sword, so I believe I could make some other weapons as well. If it goes well, I will go hunt for some more as well. Since we are C-ranks now, we should be able to get a sufficient amount of Murder Ant materials."

  "Oh yeah! I remember that sword! It was quite high css for your first try," Lena smiled at the memory.

  "You made one?"

  "I was just following what was written in the Monstersmithing Encyclopedia. I think the reason for it being such a high css was because of my Magic control being really high."

  "What is your level in it anyway?"

  "Last I checked it was level five."

  "Whoa, really?" Laina’s brows went up with surprise.

  "Is that really that grand?"

  "Of course it is!" Laina got excited, "Many mages have Magic control skill around level two or three, because that is all you really need for hunting. Royal Mages are around level 5, but only a handful of them! The Four Great Mages apparently have Magic Control level six!"

  "The highest recorded Magic Control skill level is apparently the Sage’s who had level 9, however that is only a hearsay, as no one knows his Status card," Kalvig added.

  Hehe, it feels kinda nice hearing about my father here… this world's father. I'm starting to merge the two together, that's bad… The more I hear about the Sage, the more the image blurs…

  "Arito?" Bnche worriedly tilted her head.

  "Oh, it's nothing. I feel a little conflicted about giving the kids weapons."

  "Indeed. Giving a child his first weapon is a greatly arduous task," Kalvig smiled approvingly.

  "From what I remember, father, you challenged my brother to a duel with wooden swords and refused to end it until he got a hit on you," Laina smiled knowingly at her father.

  "Eh-em! That was because I needed to make sure he is up to the task of being a lord! He finished his statecraft so quickly it left me speechless, so I had to make sure he can keep up with a sword too!" Kalvig started making excuses and Laina ughed softly.

  "Excuse me, sir Arito, this letter is for you. It's from the Summoners guild."

  "Thank you, Mr. Edgar… ……seems I made the test. Apparently, my Cachick test was a little off, but the Cave Pig and Forest Rat tests were perfect scores."

  "Congrats, Arito." Bnche smiled next to me.

  """"Congratutions,"""" the rest of the people congratuted me as well.

  "Thank you, everyone. I'm going to stop by the guild to pick up the licenses and go to the shop afterwards."

  "Okay, let's meet up there," Bnche nodded to my words and went with Laina and Lena to another room.

  I headed from the Inn to the Summoner's guild and got myself the Licenses from a friendly receptionist.

  "Now then, Mr. Aruze, the thing about the Cachicks you got wrong in the test is about illnesses they can contract. There is for example the Leminte fever, where their feathers look as if being eaten, or Scabiels, that makes both feathers and skin rot. Please be mindful of the birds' feed and supply amounts of sunbathing."

  "Understood," I nodded to the words of the receptionist as she gave me advice about diseases of the monsters I was getting licenses for.

  "With this, we've reached the end of all that was needed to say. As Forest Rats are quite common in the surrounding forests and pnes, you can go and catch as many as you want, however you need to report how many you have every month. There is an upper limit of one thousand for tamers of your rank."

  "As I've heard before, some people tried to breed forest rats to increase chances of Pgue in the past, is this a precaution?"

  "Indeed. It was done by Reversed Sun some hundred years ago, who would've thought those dastardly criminals would still be around," the receptionist was clearly angry with the criminal group.

  "I can understand that," I nodded, "Anyway, could I ask about Cave pigs? Since no natural caves are around here, they don't live anywhere nearby."

  "Yes, that is true. Cave Pigs usually don't live around here, however… Well, there is one pack numbering ten Cave pigs in total… but that group is slightly problematic."

  "Problematic?"

  "They are led by a Cave Boar," the receptionist expined.

  Cave Boars are rarely born forms of Cave Pigs, which are taller, stronger, and have more anger issues than other Cave Pigs. Their hide is as tough as pte armor and their tusks are as hard as steel. Truly a dangerous bunch. Plus, the more you feed them, the faster they breed. Cave Pigs are also sometimes called four-legged goblins. Now that I think about it, I should capture some wild Goblins around here to diversify the genetic pool.

  "I see, a Cave Boar, huh? May I ask to see them? I might be able to take them off your hands."

  "A-are you sure, sir?"

  "Of course! I had a run in with a Cave Boar previously, so I know where their weak points are," I clenched my fist as I smiled at the receptionist.

  "Alright, I will write you a letter, so you can go pick them out at any time."

  "Thank you, you are really helpful."

  "No need to be so polite, sir, this is my work. Helping out our young summoners and tamers is the guild's job!" the receptionist smiled brightly.

  "Alright, I will see you again," I said my goodbyes and went to the shop. Even though it was still morning, there was an enormous line already forming before the shop, spilling all the way to the side alley, slipping past it was a hell, but I managed to somehow get to the side doors, guarded by one of the Mercenaries.

  "Good morning, Mr. Bajaja," I talked to the dark elf guard. While his job was technically a scout, his dark clothes cking any shine a metal may produce, face mask and an enormous number of throwing and restraining weapons, he looked more like a ninja.

  "Good morning, boss! So far, we have only had to deal with some minor skirmishes caused by line skippers, but nothing that serious," Mr. Bajaja's red eyes looked a little sad at the report, most likely regretting not getting a chance yesterday with the captured intruder.

  "Well, I count on you to help out in any way you can," I smiled at him and entered the back.

  "Manager!" Emma ran up to me with a big smile, "Those Popat chips are a great success! The bars that buy alcohol from us asked if it would be possible to buy them by the sack!"

  Back when we opened up, I gave Emma some recipes she tried to recreate and succeeded with some of them. Still though, for a pregnant woman, she has an awfully lot of energy…

  "Miss… Emma… please calm down… it's not good… for the kid…" Palsha came from the doors to the kitchen, her youngest calmly sleeping on her back.

  "You should be resting both," I reprimanded the two, "there is still a lot of time until lunch time and I'm sure you need to be in perfect condition. Especially you, Ms. Emma."

  "I know…" Ms. Emma looked a little dejected, but it didn't stop her from walking to the kitchen even before me.

  The three of us took a seat at the table, which was a wooden desk on a barrel filled with salt I made with magic. I heard magic overcharge can happen to people who consume things that are charged with magic power, like potions or magic produced foods, just like the salt I made. Luckily, cooking can reduce the amount of magic in food, so people should be fine with the salt used here.

  "Let's go back to what we were talking about before, you said the Popat chips are getting popur? Could I see the ledger?"

  "It's here. This is how much they are willing to pay for the chips separately from the alcohol."

  "Hmm… these are some nice numbers. It could be doable, but…"

  "Indeed, getting consistent slices is hard to do. We might not be able to work on them and food for everyone here at the same time."

  "Let's tell them that we can only do as much as we provided them right now, so they should not expect too much from us right now. Has any other food been getting popur?"

  "Foods no, though adventurers buy dried fruits and Ellee by bags. Also, a clerk from the Merchants guild came by to request if it would be possible to buy wholesale vials for potions."

  "Hmm… I will have to get some tree sap for my Resin slimes, so would it be possible to postpone the sale?"

  I could give the slimes the sap from Dryas, but that thing is extremely potent. One spoonful makes the slime go crazy and start multiplying quickly. If I order it to release its own sap, I end up with great quantities. One of the reasons why I am making an orchard of Treants is so that I could get more sap easily. Not to mention Treants grow faster than regur trees.

  "Of course, it shall be done. Also, it seems the Jelly Drops became quite popur with the common folk. We had some merchants asking whether or not we would be willing to part with the recipe."

  "Too bad there is no recipe for that one," I chuckled.

  "Yes, that is what we told them, but they didn't believe us," Palsha shrugged with a sour look as she sipped her tea.

  "Some shops that are dealing in foods, register their recipes in the guild, but I do not believe we need to do such a thing, thanks to the nature of our merchandise," Emma added, taking tea I poured her, to her lips.

  "It's not like we can't go there and register it, it's just that monsters being the main source is what could deter people from buying it. Then again, we are called MonsterWork for a reason," I put a small spoon of honey in my tea and stirred it to perfection. This honey came from the Devil Bees I contracted with and I must say, I wholly understand why people are willing to buy it for so much.

  "Hmm, a Devil Bee's honey is truly sublime…" Palsha smiled blissfully.

  "I remember getting honey waaay back when I was little as a present for my birthday and now I can have it almost every day~" Emma smiled.

  ""Just remember you can't give it to the baby when it's born"" I said in perfect sync with Hugh who came into the room with a big smile.

  "Hey there Hugh, is something the matter?"

  "Not at all, Manager. I am taking a break right now. Also, could I ask you to look over some documents?"

  "That is no problem at all. What are they about?"

  "It's just some bars and taverns wanting our drinks to be implemented in their repertoire. Also, an inn near the river bank asked us if we would be willing to sell some dumpling dough to them regurly."

  "I guess it got really popur with sailors, eh?"

  "Indeed."

  The dumpling dough is actually a Blue Moon Liquid, or rather a dough, of a Moss Slime. It hardens a little when boiled in water. I am also adding a little bit of Spaltuna, a Blue moon liquid of Spore Slimes, that strengthens the effects of all supplements. Since it has a light citrusy taste, I believe it has a lot of vitamin C, which makes it popur with sailors and all near water dwelling people in the city.

  "Right, I will make sure we can increase the production this month. Also, how is our little trick going?"

  "Ah, yes, the Workshop you spoke about. I've already talked with Master Gemma and he will definitely be coming. If I may, please make sure you invite Ms. Merle, that old dy loves booze as much as she loves reading people's minds."

  "Yeah, point taken. I shall give an invite to the ducal family too. Mr. Henry already buys from us, so I think it would be rude to not include him, especially when they are in the city. Oh, now that I think about it, I wonder about drinks you guys like to drink."

  "Hmm, I do like some dry red wine," Emma said as she remembered her favorite brand, which coincidentally was the same as that of Kalvig. Reva Duchy's red wine with nutty fvor by the name Mountain Lifeblood.

  "I actually never had a say in the matter, really. Drinks were usually decided by the old hag or my clients," Palsha got a little embarrassed.

  "Hmm… I never was too much into drinks, but I guess Lushwine my aunt was making back home was always dear to me," Hugh said as he pondered the longest.

  "Lushwine? I never heard of it, is that some kind of special drink?"

  "Lushwine is an elven specialty that changes drastically depending on the ethnicity of its maker. Jungle elves make sweeter and denser drinks, while Sea Elves, like me, make it weaker and drier. I heard Mountain Elvish Lushwine is so strong it can put even Dwarfish drinks to shame. While most of the ingredients change, the base of all Lushwines is sap produced by the Maultut pnt." Emma expined.

  "I see. A special type of drink of the elves. I never heard of a Maultut pnt, but I guess it is quite a common one, since you can make it so easily."

  "Emma, Maultut is an elvish term…" Hugh looked at his wife with exasperation. "Manager, Maultut pnt is also called Ort, Millintree and other such names, but I believe you will best know it as Lagoda Tree, that is how Ancients named it."

  "Wait, really?!" I basically jumped from my chair. So, the Ancients named this tree? I had no idea.

  "Huh? Is something the matter?" Hugh was taken aback by my outburst.

  "Ah! Sorry about my outburst. You see, as it happens, the tea we are drinking right now uses Lagoda Leaves as an ingredient."

  Lagoda Leaves, Grippa seeds and roasted Maiga root, the three main ingredients used in making a coffee-like drink. I came up with this combination long ago, I never thought I would hear about its component here. And while talking about alcohol to boot!

  "Really?! I guess I can feel the slight tint of it in the tea, but it's barely noticeable…" Emma examined the tea closely.

  "Your drinks are always interesting, Manager. I really like that bubbly water that tastes like Appo."

  "Ah, you mean the Sooda, right? I really like it too. For a nonalcoholic beverage it has a nice mouthfeel and I like it during long nights," Hugh nodded, surely remembering his paperwork and nothing else.

  This world has coffee-like drinks but they aren't really widespread. Carbonated drinks are completely new and I make it with wind magic. I really hope I could make a Magic circle to turn it into a Magic item and start manufacturing the drinks in big.

  "Well, I'm gd you like it. I really wish I could make bigger batches, but for now I can only do quite a little number."

  "It's fine, Manager. Since we have enough stock of other merchandise, we won't be going in the red. We have smaller sales now, but that is due to the influx of people after the Summer Auction starting to dwindle."

  "Yeah, I guess we will soon be serving only locals and merchants passing through."

  "In any case, the amount of alcohol we sold is enough to hold the shop afloat. The antidotes for poison and paralysis are selling in great numbers as well."

  "That's good to hear. I have enough herbs growing, so I should be able to keep up with the demand."

  "Speaking of the antidotes, some adventurers started using the Exchange Booth you introduced. It seems like there are parties that hire porters to specifically pick up the empty bottles that fell to the ground during the fights," Emma said as she finished her tea and started preparing a new batch, which Hugh helped her with.

  "This town didn't have porters previously, but they start to become more common now, due to the Murder Ant rise in the south," Palsha added.

  "Yeah, their numbers started to grow exponentially recently. According to the guild, the poor removal of corpses caused the ants to feast on their fallen comrades, effectively bumping their numbers up more than before."

  "So that is what happened," Hugh nodded understandingly, "Actually, a butcher came to me with a proposition to sell us some exoskeletons. Sadly, I do not know enough about them, so I asked him to come show us some of his produce. I know most damage will be done from the adventurers, but one never knows, Butcher’s main income is from meat, after all."

  "Good call, when can we expect him?"

  "I would believe any minute, since you told us you would come in the morning."

  "Yeah, good call."

  We spent some nice time chatting over tea when one of the girls came to the room to tell us about the butcher arriving and waiting in the open space between our shop and the undry business next door.

  "Hello sir, I believe we've already met before, but I haven't given you my name yet. I am called Aeldo, a butcher from Fifteenth North-West Street," the butcher introduced himself. Mr. Aeldo was from the way I saw it a Human-Beastman hybrid as his Wolfman traits were really tame. He had silverish hairs with ears and a tail having bck tips. He looked quite young, but apparently was already over fifty and had two kids my age. One of them, a girl, was with him today, tending to horses that brought their items in a carriage.

  "And I am Arito Aruze, the General Manager of MonsterWork Company, I believe I had some contact with your son, I believe? Or was he your apprentice?" I nodded my head politely to the man and let myself be escorted to the carriage to see what they brought.

  "Yes, that was my son, he's guarding the shop today. Also, apart from the Murder Ant Exoskeletons, we also have other monsters, do you want to see those first?"

  "Hmm, I might as well take you up on that offer."

  "That's great! We packed only materials we can procure on a regur basis, so if you want something that is rarer to come by here, you'll have to stop by!" The girl smiled at me, equal parts cutely and wolfishly.

  "Your daughter is quite the businesswoman, eh?" I smiled smugly as I started looking at the items they brought. Well, I can't use any of these unless I use some alchemy first… Hey, these are Mud Newt fangs, those are extremely heat resistant. Maybe if I compound them with iron and Titanium, I could make something amazing…

  Going through the monster remnants was surprisingly fulfilling, as I was getting even things I didn't know could be locally sourced. And as a nice little bonus, except for the Mud Newt skin, nothing smelled particurly bad.

  "All of these are of great quality and I'm sure I can use them to some degree, shall we move to the main topic?"

  "Of course," Aeldo nodded and took off the tilt from the carriage. What I got to see were five clean picked exoskeletons.

  "Hmm… sorry but this will be hard. I probably can use these exoskeletons, but they are too clean."

  "What do you mean by ‘too clean’, Mr. Manager?" Hugh was confused.

  "With Monstersmithing, you need the raw tissue to run your magic through. That is what holds the armor or weapon together. I'm not saying this is completely unusable, however, I might be able to do something with it using other methods… May I try something?"

  "I have no use for it, so do whatever," Mr. Aeldo nodded, so I cut off a piece of the exoskeleton's leg and took out a jar with fine powder.

  "What is this?" Mr. Aeldo's daughter looked interestedly over my shoulder, which I didn't really mind, as I was used to it from Bnche, Romi and the Goblin Trio.

  "These jars are filled with iron dust I made. The lids are sealed shut to prevent rusting, but as you can see, each of the dusts have a slightly different shade of gray."

  "What purpose will this possibly serve?"

  "In bcksmithing, you can use canisters from softer metals to hold together powders like these and if you heat and press them together, the powder becomes a solid bar of steel. However, this can be replicated with Alchemy without the use of heat."

  "Isn't alchemy typically used by chartans?" Mr. Aeldo frowned and Mr. Hugh nodded beside him.

  "I'm not saying all alchemists are goody two shoes, but there is a fact that Alchemy can do what most magic cannot. Alchemy in most basic terms can Separate, Combine and Reshape. What I'm doing here is the second thing. Now then, the experiment can begin!"

  I was mostly likely inventing something completely new right now, but there is always a chance someone came before me. Just like with historical Damascus and Damascus of today, which is basically just some folded sheets of steel pressed together to make a look-alike.

  Anyway, back to what I was doing here. Since the monster parts are often reactive to Magical power, I decided to crush them with Force magic and started grinding it into fine powder, just like the iron. When I had about half of the jar, I took out powdered magic stone, which would be a kind of a glue in this case, as iron is a poor magic conductor.

  I took out three bowls and spread the iron between them equally. Then, I added the grounded Magic Stone in one-to-one ratio and mixed it. Since all my iron here was 0.4% carbon, it was technically a steel, however that would be irrelevant as Magic Stone powder would soften it. According to the Alchemy book I received from Gods, when I came to this world, there exists a material called Magic Steel, which is made with alchemy. Sadly, people already managed to lose the technology to make it. I guess the books came from the God of Academia, since he seems to be the one most invested in the knowledge this world has to offer.

  Sadly, to make Magic Steel, I would also need Magic crystal to give the sword an element. The way magic items of today get elements is by having inscribed a magic circle on them or by being made from monsters. Magic Crystals are often used in Wands and Staves, but once they run out of steam, they break apart. One of the advantages the Schtaffe holds is that it can absorb Magic power directly into itself by bonding with its user.

  Once the three bowls before me were mixed enough, I started adding the crushed exoskeleton. Number of onlookers increased as I was deeply concentrating, but they were kind enough to be silent.

  First bowl had 15% of the crushed exoskeleton, the second had twenty-five and the third had fifty. I didn’t want to go above that, since it might have a repulsive reaction. I remember trying to bond two metals with alchemy way back in the Kassana forest, and creating a small explosion. One proper mixing ter, I turned the mixes into solid bars.

  Mild Ant Steel

  A type of steel that became weaker due to inclusion of Murder Ant material. It is still stronger than regur steel, but easier to bend and break.

  Strong Ant Steel

  A type of steel with so many Murder Ant Exoskeleton particles, that the particles bound together to create stronger steel.

  Magic Ant Steel

  A magical steel with a strong Murder Ant element in it. This steel is perfect for Poison, Fire and Lightning Magics while also being resistant to bending.

  "May I see it, Arito?" Kalvig pced his hand on my shoulder, which made me flinch. As it turned out, Bnche and the Ducal family with their entourage came to visit me in the shop, just to find me here, sitting on the ground doing alchemy.

  "Oh! Of course, take a look, Mr. Kalvig!" I handed over the three bars.

  "Hmm, incredible. This is some amazing work. I could easily see these bars becoming Second, or even First css, weapons in hands of a good smith," Kalvig appraised the bars and smiled at me with "good work" sp on my back.

  The three bars of metal were slightly reddish, but what was most interesting was the pattern they had. The Mild and Strong Ant Steels not so much, but the Magic Ant Steel was glistering like stars in the sky. It strongly reminded me of the historical Damascus I loved so much in my previous world.

  "It's an honor to hear that, your excellency," Hugh bowed deeply and Mr. Aeldo followed the suit with his daughter hidden behind him.

  "You are… never mind. Arito, what do you call this technique? Combining monster materials with regur ones was debated for as long as I remember, but no success was produced so far."

  Wait, did I actually just make something new in this world?

  "I don't have a name for it, I just experimented a little today with materials I had on hand. But I guess, if I had to name it…"

  Well, what now? Picking a random name doesn't sound too great. I would love to improve the status of alchemy here, since it's so useful, but I can't be too hasty… Well, this could also be called Monstersmithing in a sense…

  "Alchemical Monstersmithing would work the best as a name, I guess…"

  "I see, Alchemical Monstersmithing, eh? It sounds nice, what do you say, Henry?"

  "The pattern on the steel is definitely something that can't really be reproduced with any technique I know off… Come to think about it, we have one of our specialists here in town, right?"

  "Right, the Smith Master who came to this town some time ago, right?" Laina added.

  "What do you say, Arito? Do you want to meet him?"

  I might get my bcksmithing level up, so there is no downside to meeting him… A Smith Master, eh? Interesting…

  "Okay, I think I would like to meet this Smith specialist of yours."