Chapter 12: LeatherRaft

Since I'm pretty sure most of you don't read Bu ni Mi and probably missed it. I'll start by copy and pasting the announcement I made there, so wall of text incoming.

I'd like to address a change in the "schedule", as you probably have noticed, lately, the number of releases for VRMMO had been higher than Bu ni Mi.

I personally believe this has been handled the wrong way and was partly because I found that I could release the WN chapters more quickly than the LN. This ended up with me trying to release more chapters of the WN and using whatever spare time I had left to work on Bu ni Mi which, as you can imagine, resulted in me releasing Bu ni Mi chapters at a really "slow" pace.

As someone that is unable to pace himself when given free rein, this basically lead to me using the entirety of my free time on translating chapters and kind of...not doing much else? Not that I disliked it because I do enjoy translating to a certain extent but probably not what someone would expect from something that is being done as a "hobby".

However, I believe this kind of work ethic is not really sustainable in the long run even if you enjoy it,so after giving it some thought, I decided to self-impose some limits upon myself. This means that I will set a limit to how much I translate during my free time and try to shift time to other activities for myself.

I'll also be alternating between each series after each release, which means that after this chapter, there will be a VRMMO chapter, then it'll be another Bu ni Mi chapter and so on. I believe this is the simplest way to be fair to the readers of both series.

I believe most of the readers will be disappointed by this decision, but well, there's probably not much I can do about it. I'll still try to make progress each day so I doubt there will be a content drought or anything like that, just expect releases to be a bit more spread out.

That being said, here's the next VRMMO chapter, enjoy.

「Alright, today we'll start by making defensive gear」

The place we were currently were at was the same, under the watchtower.

There, I spread out a large amount of Al-Miraj fur from my inventory.

As I've already stated before, there's no concept of dismantling so what was spread before me was already processed fur...or rather 「Leather」.

As expected, proceeding with the beginner defensive gear would make us weak, so this time I decided to start by crafting some defensive gear.

Working on the ground is not really optimal, but since we don't have anywhere else to work there's no other choice.

...I wonder how much does a home inside the game cost?

「Here! Hind-sensei! While you are doing that, I'll have nothing to do!」

「Fumu, Yumir-kun. You are free to go somewhere else! Is what I'd like to say...but since it won't take long, wait there for a bit. In reality, making defensive gear doesn't really take too long after all」

「Hind-san, is there anything I can do to help?」

「You don't really know much about the game, right? While I'm making the defensive gear, ask Yumir if you have anything you want to know. That's fine, right? Yumir」

「Eh...」

Huh...didn't you just say you had free time?

In that case, I have an idea.

「...There's an armor that's made using blacksmithing by using the carapace of killer bees, should I make those? On top of being pointy in the shoulder area, the color scheme is black and yellow, and...」

「I'll gladly do it!」

「Yup. I'm counting on you」

When it comes to the process of making defensive gear, you are fine as long as you set a 「Pattern」 and a 「Blueprint」 on the sewing set and make them as it instructs you to.

These 「Blueprints」 appear as long as you have a material needed for it in your inventory, this was a feature that was really game-like.

Once you get rare materials, you can check the 「Blueprint」 and know what the rest of the materials you need are, it was really convenient.

However, this only applies to those in the sewing category.

There are 「Blueprints」 for those made via blacksmithing too, those appear when you use a 「Blacksmithing set」.

Well, the only thing that differentiates them are their categories, the methods remain the same.

It's just that since you can make defensive gear with both methods, one should check both categories to not miss anything.

「Hah? Even though it goes through the morning, noon and evening in four hours, why does the date change at the same time as reality? Besides, night is awfully short too」

「You are so picky! It's like this because it's a game!」

「To begin with, if these four hours were referring to the Earth, it would mean that it rotates at quite the speed, you know? If we assume that this is a planet that's like Earth, I don't believe it's an environment where humans can-」

「The developers are not thinking about that kind of stuff! Are you an idiot!?」

「What do you mean by idiot!? I don't want to hear that coming from you!」

When it comes to weapons and defensive gear, players can add their own arrangements to the process, but this time I'll stick to what the blueprint says.

Leather is more difficult to process than cloth since I don't have many materials like that time with the weapons, I don't want to take a risk.

By the way, I don't need to take into account Yumir's figure, if you follow the blueprint, after you craft them, the game will change it to fit her body.

If you make your own arrangements it's different since you have to make them so they fit the person's body it takes a lot of time...this is probably something I'll leave for the distant future.

First off...I'll start by marking the leather.

If I don't do it well now, it'll be problematic later...carefully with a pencil...alright, done.

Next is to cut it...it's been a while since I cut leather with a carving knife.

Leather crafting was pretty similar to normal sewing, which I hadn't had many chances to do.

I believe the last time was when I gave mom a wallet as a present? I think that was last year?

Yup...I can't really remember the exact day it last happened, but I did make a bag one time to save money.

In that case, I'll probably gradually remember while I work on it.

If I remember correctly, when you are cutting leather, you have to do it with resolution.

I put strength in, and cut it in a straight line...there!

Oh, it got beautifully cut.

「The inventory is also weird. To think you can take out a large number of things from this small waist pouch...furthermore, it doesn't weight anything...」

「Hey, don't tell me you are going to find faults with every little thing!? We are not going to finish at this rate」

「No, I'll just take it as it is...this sort of approach, is important when you are playing a game...」

「I-I see! You are finally going to obediently-」

「That's what Hind-san said」

「There was no way you would. Though, I already knew that」

「More importantly, Yumir-san. I tried to use this inventory but...」

「...What is it? It's probably going to be something worthless but I'll hear you out」

Next is a pretty bothersome process but...oh, it's aligning itself on the ground without me doing anything.

Having part of the process done by itself in the blink of an eye...yeah, this is quite comfortable.

Like blacksmithing, there's a judgement system depending on how you do the process.

In this case, I guess it's cutting, sewing and the finishing touches? The ones that affect the performance of the defensive gear.

「If you can place an item no matter how big it is in this inventory...I was thinking that we might be able to put a person inside it」

「H-Hey, don't tell me...」

「Hey, Yumir-san...won't you try getting inside...?」

「Stop it! There's no way that a player would be able to enter inside the inventory!」

「If it's impossible, why are you getting frightened? Are you getting worried because you have never tried it...? If by any chance it's possible...what should I do?」

「S-Stay away! Don't come any closer!」

「Come now, fly that flocks towards Hind-san...let's store you inside the inventory」

「Hiiii!!!」

Just as I thought.

If you join the parts with your hand they bind and it even makes the holes for sewing.

In that case, next if finally time to start sewing.

By using the drop item called 「Caterpillar thread」, I stuck them through two needles to be used on leather.

Since it's different from using a needle on cloth, I have to be careful.

...Alright, preparations are done.

Using both needles I started to sew the leather by crossing between each other.

stinging stinging...as I thought, this might take a while?

I'm nearly done with a side of the torso but...oh! Ooh!

The thing I was surprised about was that the thread started to sew by itself on the holes.

Seems like once you are done with a side, there's a system that deduces the precision of your work.

To begin with, having the needle I'm holding suddenly come to life is dangerous!

Finally, I put the final touches on the leather defensive gear.

I used a rasp to even out the parts that were protruding.

When I did so...

「It's glowing!」

「W-what's going on!?」

「Oh my...」

The leather armor started to shine and float mid-air, once it finished, it fell to the ground again.

There were parts in it that I clearly didn't make, I slightly felt like I couldn't agree with how it turned out.

In terms of color, it's the same light brown color from the raw material, and its appearance wasn't too bad.

Well then, how about its performance...

「Oh! Hind, is that mine!? Is that my defensive gear!?」

「It is, but let me verify its performance as the crafter first. You are too close! You are breathing too heavily!」

「Tsk, I'm out of time, huh...」

The armor's information was displayed once I touched it.

Defense 41...this is the value of the entire armor, so it seems like there are no values set for each part.

Its name is 「First-rate Al-Miraj armor +8」.

Hmm? First-rate?

「I'll put in on immediately!」

「A-ah. Once you register the armor as your own, it'll change to fit your body」

「I see...alright, done! Goodbye beginner gear!」

Yumir hurriedly opened the menu and equipped the armor.

However, I couldn't feel satisfied for some reason.

「...Hind-san, is there something bothering you?」

「No, I'll probably figure out once I investigate it later. I'll make one for Riizu next」

「Really? Thank you very much」

Among the weapons that Selene-san made, there were no other than 「Good quality ○○+10」.

Was the system lenient for defensive gear? Or was I just lucky? I don't know...

I don't believe I was doing such a good work though.

Oh well, I'll contact Selene-san about this by mail later.

Since she's smart, she might know something about it.

Alright, next is Riizu's, I should quickly make mine too.