After successfully clearing up the misunderstanding, the reunited group, guided by Shana, was heading to the Old City to acquire a rental workshop. The Old City was a lively and bustling district, filled with shops and various facilities. Amidst them stood a single, incongruously luxurious building. No one seemed to be able to enter it; occasionally, someone would approach, but the door adamantly refused all intruders. As the group stared at it, wondering what kind of building it was, Shana casually walked up to it, pulled out what looked like a card, and effortlessly opened the door, beckoning them all inside.
"Shana, what is this place?"
"This is a members-only building, only accessible to those with a certain level of assets. It even has shops. And there's a section inside that rents out rooms."
"There was something like this...?"
"See, Pito, I told you. This world you're in is still full of things you don't know about."
"Yeah, I want to learn more about this world!"
Once inside, Shana showed Ikoma various rooms, and Ikoma offered his opinions from a craftsman's perspective. Ikoma particularly liked a certain room, so Shana decided to rent it. She then issued temporary passes for the other members, successfully securing a private workshop and base of operations for their group.
"Wow, this is going to be our base!"
"You know how in movies, people store their guns in walls or hidden compartments and take them out when they deploy? You can do that here."
Saying that, Shana opened the door to what looked like an armory. Inside, various weapons and ammunition were neatly lined up, seemingly transferred automatically from Shana's separately rented personal storage.
"W-what is all this...?"
"As expected, Shana-san!"
"Wow, amazing, amazing!"
"How about it, Ikoma? It's a man's romance, isn't it?"
"I understand! Men definitely want to collect things like this!"
"Right? You can customize these however you like."
"Oh, this makes my hands itch..."
Then, sitting down again on the sofa, the five settled in and began to discuss their future plans.
"For now, why don't we head to Infinite Hell or something and raise Ikoma's level a bit? That way, he'll be able to do a lot more things, and the options for which skills to take will increase significantly."
Everyone nodded at Sinon's suggestion.
"Sounds good. Against those mobs, his sense of perspective probably won't even matter."
"Ikoma-kun, you'll probably be too excited to sleep tonight, right?"
"Indeed... I'll have to thoroughly research how to use the experience I gain."
Ikoma said this happily, as it had been a long time since he'd done anything like this.
"Ikoma-kyun, someday, you'll improve my weapons and make them super awesome, okay?"
"Ah, yes... Oh! P-Pito-san, um, if it's not too much trouble, could I possibly get your autograph sometime? I'm a huge fan!"
To Ikoma's words, Pitohui replied very happily.
"You listen to my songs? Thank you! Of course, I'll sign as many as you want!"
"Thank you very much!"
"No, thank you! I'm so happy to hear that from Ikoma-kyun, the hero!"
"Oh no, I'm no hero..."
"What are you talking about? If it weren't for you, Shiz and I wouldn't be able to be here laughing like this right now. Don't be so modest."
"Y-yes!"
Ikoma nodded, blushing. Then Shana presented Sinon with a gun.
"Sinon, try using this today. Its feel is similar to an anti-material rifle. Its range is also a bit longer."
"Understood. I'll do my best, thinking of it as practice for when I get my own custom gun."
"Good, that's the spirit."
And so, Shana and the others set off for their usual Infinite Hell. They could have aimed for materials elsewhere, but since it was Ikoma's first time, they prioritized gaining experience.
Meanwhile, Zekseed and his group happened to spot Shana's party and began to follow them.
"Zekseed-san, isn't that...?"
"Shana... looks like they haven't noticed us."
"A chance for revenge?"
"Alright, let's follow them."
Zekseed smirked as he watched Shana's group enter a spaceship.
"Those guys are probably planning to shoot mobs from above and escape when they can't handle it anymore. Good, we'll ambush them here. Concentrate on the entrance, and shoot as soon as they come out."
"You got it."
"If we shoot right away, we'll definitely hit them, right?"
Then, gunshots echoed from above. They continued for a while, then suddenly ceased.
"Alright, the gunshots have stopped. They'll be coming out soon. Focus on the entrance."
From behind the three, they heard a clatter-clatter, like footsteps. Haruka, who happened to glance back, cried out in a flustered voice.
"Z-Zekseed-san, behind you, behind!"
"Hm? Whoaah! Shoot! Shoot!"
Suddenly, a massive horde of enemies attacked them from behind. Zekseed and his group frantically began attacking. But Zekseed and his companions didn't know that as long as they kept shooting, enemies would continuously spawn everywhere. And then, attacked by unharmed enemies from even further behind, Zekseed's group died in an instant.
Thus, without Shana's knowledge, Zekseed's first attempt at revenge ended in failure. The only saving grace was that they had defeated a considerable number of enemies, so even after deducting their losses, Yuuko and Haruka gained a decent amount of experience. Of course, all those enemies had been wounded, so that experience was naturally also distributed to Shana and her group. Incidentally, upstairs, Shana was tilting her head, wondering why the number of invading enemies was lower than expected.
"Fewer than I thought. Did I miscalculate?"
"Well, it's fine, isn't it? Should we go for the next round of shooting?"
"Yeah, sounds good. Alright, let's continue."
Shana gave Ikoma a machine gun, prioritizing hitting as many enemies as possible. As expected in a mob battle, and fortunately with a gun as a weapon, the feared vision problem had almost no impact, and Ikoma steadily gained levels. After the hunt ended and they returned to their base, Ikoma immediately took the essential blacksmithing skills. He still had a large amount of experience remaining, and after logging out, Ikoma would likely spend his time pondering what skills to take with that experience.
"Ikoma, how do you feel?"
"Well, it seems I can do quite a lot even in my current state."
"Can you make anything with the materials we have now?"
"Yes, it seems it's possible to extend the range of Sinon-san's rifle. And... oh, I can make not just guns but melee weapons too, and there's quite a bit of armor. It feels nostalgic, like going back to the SAO era."
"Hmm, hmm. Sinon, want to have him do it for you for now?"
"U-um, if everyone else is okay with it."
Naturally, no one else had any objections, and Ikoma's first job was to extend the range of Sinon's rifle. It was successfully completed, and Sinon aimed the gun out the window, looking through the scope.
"Ah, the numbers on the scope's scale are definitely much larger than before. It reaches even further than the weapon I borrowed earlier, Shana!"
Sinon said this very happily, then thanked Ikoma.
"Ikoma, thank you so much!"
"No, it's my job, after all."
"As expected of Ikoma-kyun, a model craftsman!"
"No, no, I haven't done this in a while, so I'm really enjoying it."
"For a while, we'll just earn a ton for Ikoma."
Next, Ikoma received Shizuka's homemade rapier-lookalike from Shizuka and transformed it into a magnificent rapier with quite beautiful ornamentation. It bore a resemblance to the rapier Shizuka had once used.
"Wow, such an authentic sword exists too!"
"In reality, all I'm doing is shaping it and sharpening the edge. It seems this game offers a lot of freedom in terms of processing like this."
"So, these decorations aren't chosen from a preset list?"
"Ah, no, I tried to recreate Shizuka-san's old weapon from memory."
"Yeah, it looks just like it! Ikoma-kun, amazing!"
"You have good taste. As expected of Ikoma."
"Well then, for now, let's just do the maintenance on all the weapons everyone used today."
And so, the group, with Ikoma as their new teammate, would spend some time engaging in intense combat to help Ikoma grow. Meanwhile, Zekseed and his group, who had died so anticlimactically, assumed that Shana's group would also be wiped out and return the same way, so they waited at the respawn point, intending to mock them.
"They probably didn't notice we died, so I won't be satisfied unless I can at least mock them unilaterally."
"As expected of Zekseed-san, the big shot of the small fry!"
"Stop it, you're making me blush."
Zekseed and Yuuko, who said that, exchanged such conversation, as if they considered it a compliment. Haruka, who happened to be looking behind them, called out to the two.
"Y-you two, look at that..."
"Hm? Whoa! Why are those guys coming back normally...?"
In their line of sight was Shana's group, triumphantly returning. Shana's group didn't notice Zekseed's party and continued to advance. The three were astonished and hastily followed Shana's group, confirming that they entered a certain building.
"So that's their base... Alright, let's go inside."
But Zekseed couldn't open the door, and of course, neither could Yuuko or Haruka.
"What is this building...?"
"What could it be...?"
"Is there some kind of condition?"
"Damn it, this is ridiculous! What the hell is going on?!"
And so, the three hung their heads and trudged away. Incidentally, sometime later, Zekseed happened to see other players entering the building. He spoke to one of them, learned the conditions for entering the building, and screamed again.
-----------------------------
I've just uploaded up to 40 chapters in advance on Patreon!
If you enjoy this story, please supporting me on Patreon!
👉 [patreon.com/Greyhounds]
Thank you so much for your amazing support!