"Zero Hero-sama is truly terrifying—I've never seen anyone lose this much magic and still not look tired," the magic shop owner exclaimed sincerely, sucking in a sharp breath.
"Hmm, it's nothing special. Anyway, clothes made from these threads will do, right?"
Once the owner confirmed, Kiriko left with everyone else.
Of course, before leaving, she didn't forget to buy another thread-spinning machine, along with a magic staff and other magic materials.
As for these magic threads…
She didn't need a tailor—Kiriko could craft clothes herself.
After all, her tailoring skill was at the "Great Great Great… Grandmaster" level.
First, they stopped by a tavern to eat and booked a large room while they were at it.
Bringing a Filolial into the tavern caused quite a commotion—typically, no one brought Filolials into places like this.
But on the other hand, there wasn't any law explicitly forbidding it either.
Gabriel, the huge fat bird, occupied several people's worth of space. Kiriko had to drag several tables together before they could even sit comfortably.
Everyone except Kiriko ate voraciously: Raphtalia had always had a big appetite, Gabriel's size spoke volumes, and Lute the Dogkin wasn't exactly a picky eater either.
Only Kiriko stuck to habits from her past life as a web novelist, putting down her bowl after eating roughly sixty to seventy percent full.
She stubbornly believed that overeating would cause blood to flow more to the stomach, reducing supply to the brain.
She also stubbornly avoided alcohol, convinced that drinking would dull her thinking.
After finishing their meal, Kiriko sent the others upstairs to rest and went alone to the weapon shop.
Originally, she intended to buy crafting materials, but upon arrival she discovered the shop only sold finished equipment.
Having no other choice, she bought a dozen or so of the shop's finest weapons and armor (it was amusing that the "weapon" shop also carried armor).
Returning to the tavern room, she saw Lute faithfully standing guard, just as vigilant as when they'd been camping outdoors.
The room was quiet. The two girls were squeezed onto one bed, fast asleep.
After all, they'd been through a lot these past few days.
Kiriko told Lute to rest properly. She still had work to do, so she might as well keep watch herself.
She placed the magic threads she'd created on the table and activated her "Tailoring" skill.
A pop-up window similar to an art program appeared in her vision.
It took nearly two hours before Kiriko finally crafted the ideal schoolgirl uniform she'd envisioned.
As expected, nothing suited Gabriel better than a classic school uniform.
After saving the design, she wouldn't need to redraw it again; she could just select it from the saved designs.
With that, Gabriel's clothing was done.
Not only did the uniform look good, but Kiriko had also used her "Enchanting" skill to add numerous attributes.
Magic defense, fire resistance, water resistance, dark resistance—basically, every possible enhancement was included.
Although the outfit looked like an ordinary school uniform, its defensive power was actually higher than even a full suit of heavily reinforced plate armor.
Next was Raphtalia.
Kiriko hadn't forgotten that Raphtalia had chosen a magic-oriented growth path at the Dragon Hourglass, so she crafted a cloak for her, adding plenty of enchantments as well.
She dismantled the purchased staff and recreated it again herself.
Though it might've seemed redundant, the new staff's stats were significantly higher thanks to Kiriko's handiwork.
After all, her life skills were "Great Great Great… Grandmaster" level.
She naturally hadn't forgotten Lute either, crafting a set of armor resembling the Firelink set for the Dogkin.
She also made him two large shields that closely resembled Havel's Greatshield.
At last, it was Kiriko's own turn.
Honestly speaking, given her current level, it didn't really matter whether she had weapons or not—
Thinking that, Kiriko glanced briefly at her status.
She was now at Level 666.
This world had strict level barriers.
Level 40 was the first barrier.
Only after a Class Up at a Dragon Hourglass could one surpass that limit.
Level 100 was the second barrier.
No matter how powerful an adventurer was, they could never surpass the level 100 limit.
There were supposedly methods to break past Level 100 in ancient times, but they'd long since been lost.
Nowadays, even the strongest could only reach Level 100 at most.
Yet here was Kiriko, madly leveling beyond all reason.
Her attribute values had long since broken past four digits into five digits, swiftly approaching six.
Even her skill proficiencies continually climbed.
Whether it was the "+" after EX or the numerous "Great" prefixes before "Grandmaster," she'd long since surpassed even the descendants of Gawain.
Nevertheless, Kiriko still wanted to craft two swords for herself.
In every game she'd ever played, swords were her preferred weapon.
No matter the genre, she always picked sword-wielding classes.
So Kiriko dismantled the weapons bought from the shop into raw materials, using them to craft two swords (the armor and shields for Lute had been made the same way).
One sword was pure black, both blade and hilt.
The other was pure white, with a dazzling white blade and a silvery-blue hilt.
While making them, Kiriko had already thought up their names.
The black sword would be called Ebony.
The white sword would be Ivory.
—Of course not.
By now, probably no one would understand references to Ebony and Ivory.
The actual names Kiriko decided on were…
The black sword was the Black Edge.
The white sword was the White Album.
If she had more materials next time, she'd make an ice sword and a fire sword as well.
She'd name the ice sword Widow's Grief, and the fire sword Flames of Joy.
After finishing the weapons, Kiriko crafted a new black coat for herself, along with a matching shirt and trousers.
Only after everything was completed did she stretch in satisfaction.
She walked over to the window and glanced downward.
She spotted Naofumi and his companions returning from outside the city.
Naofumi noticed Kiriko and waved.
Kiriko waved back.
Tomorrow, the second Wave would begin.
Exactly what sort of calamity were these Waves? What kind of monsters would emerge? Why did the world need to summon Heroes from another dimension to save it?
All these questions… would likely be answered tomorrow.
---
T/N: 4 chaps meeting this weeks quota, i was toooo lazy and slept allllllllll week sorgee
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
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