Vol. 9 - Chapter 448 - Hannah Power! Lightning Fast Strike!
After finishing our task at <Variety Firm>, we were back to our guild room and were now in Alchemy Atelier. Hannah in her alchemy purpose equipment was now explaining the ABC of Sli-pop marathon to Maria in vivid manner while holding a mace in her hand.
I mean, the one who taught her about sli-po was none other than me but why I have no recollection of that aspect...
Hannah had been using varieties of equipment with <Ant Queen (Black)> as base so far and while they were strong, they were still equipment of Beg-mid. She was no opponent to the monsters of Intermediate dungeons.
So her current equipment was something she had upgraded by herself and if I have to say, the line-up was truly incredible. She had used plenty of boss <Battle Wolf (3rd Form)> and rare boss <Battle Wolf (4th Form)> materials so far so they truly didn't miss out in details. The list was like this---
1 - Weapon <Plummeting Mace> (Mei-chan V3)
Stat - <ATK - 30>
Skills - <Swing LV3> <Rout LV3> <Multiple Strike LV2>
2- Head Piece <Fractured Hat of the Battle-Evolved Wolf>
Stat - <DEF - 22> <M.DEF - 15> <HP - +100>
3 - Body Piece (1) <Black Clothes of Rare Wolf IV>
Stat - <Def - 45> <M.DEF - 35> <HP +60>
Skills - <Physical Resist LV5>
4 - Body Piece (2) <Robe of Rare Wolf>
Stat - <DEF - 28> <M.DEF 40> <HP +50/MP +50>
Skills - <Water Resist +15%> <Dark Resist +15%>
5 - Arm Piece <Safeguard Glove of Hammer Wielder>
Stat - <DEF - 20> <M.DEF - 11> <ATK - 20>
Skills - <Hammer Speed LV5> <Strength Bearer LV5>
6 - Leg Piece <Socks of Cat Furball>
Stat - <DEF - 27> <M.DEF - 16> <HP +40>
Skills - <Lightning Resist +10%> <Fire Resist -10%> <Cat's Step LV4>
7 - Accessory (1) <Alchemy UP Bangle>
Stat - <DEF - 0> <M.DEF - 0>
Skills - <Alchemised Item Quality UP LV10> <Alchemy Speed UP LV10>
8 - Accessory (2) <Alchemist's Grimoire>
Stat - <DEF - 0> <M.DEF - 0>
Skills - <Alchemy Efficiency+ LV10> <Don't Fear Alchemy Error LV10>
This was her current alchemy equipment.
No wait, why was she even wearing <Safeguard Glove of Hammer Wielder>? I could swear she hadn't equipped it earlier...... but the fingerless gloves do look cool.
This was also her outfit for the dungeon, minus the current two accessories. She would usually change them to more dungeon related. Well, it would be another explanation so let's skip them for now.
Overall, it was coordinated with <Design Modification> to look closer to <Ant Queen (Black)> so they didn't appear much different appearance-wise---A black robe over black one-piece dress. She could easily pass out as a witch.
Her skirt was also the same, over the knee-length. But I guess the biggest change was indeed the robe. She now looked like a full-fledged witch. I guess the witch-like costume has become her favorite.
The robe came with a hood but with the bowler hat she was wearing, it was a mere decoration. Instead, she had put <Alchemist's Grimoire> in the hood. Err, Hannah-chan...that's not the place to put it though?
But aside from that, it looked cool! Don't you think there's something romantic about taking out a grimoire from the hood?
Clink.
With all the equipment put on, Hannah turned to Maria.
"I will do it in all seriousness, so please look carefully. <Alchemy>!"
Hannah intoned her <Alchemy> skill.
The room houses more than just a few <Alchemy Set>. A lot of them were earthenware pots which were no doubt setup to produce slimes. Their number alone were too staggering.
Following Hannah's skill, the plentiful mud water and slime jelly that had been in the pots all released a shining light. Well, another reason for so many <Alchemy Set> was also due to her skill---<Quick Alchemy>, <Simple Production> and <Mass Production> which made it possible to perform mass <Alchemy> at once.
Maria looked at the scene in slight dumbfoundedness at first, but then began to jolt out everything.
In just a mere few seconds, slimes pop up from the alchemy sets one after another. A hint of---no, her eyes literally glittering with sparkle.
"Eiyaa!"
Pwoof
A soft sound echoed when Hannah swung her Mei-chan and turned one of the slime into light residual as it left behind <Mana Sone(Tiny)>.
"Remember, the attacks must come out whole-heartedly. There's no path forward for you if you take it as a mere task."
Hannah started with an impressive speech, though what she was doing was no different from the normal sli-po that I knew. ---Or so I thought naively.
Hannah was gradually reaching after-image speed, too blurry to make an outline of her. H-Holy heck, she's moving too fast! What's more, her striking speed was literally lightning speed!
"<Multiple Strike>! Take-Take-Take-Take-Take-Take-Take-Take-Take-Take-Take-Take-Take-Take-Take-Take-Takkkkkkke it!"
She instantly took down 32 slimes. What speed! She-She looked so damn amazing for something that was unnecessary!!
"Haaa! <Swing>! Take it <Rout>! Take it-Take it-Take it!"
Now she was up to using mace skills! I mean, I couldn't capture it clearly with all the blurry motion but she was surely using it as the slimes started turning into light one after another.
Was it even the sli-po marathon that I knew about? I was so confused I even double rubbed my eyes to see if I wasn't hallucinating.
After slaughtering nearly 400 slimes in just one minute, she then wiped the sweat off her forehead, with a content expression as if saying 'phew, that was a nice warm-up.'
"Thank you for your hard work, Hannah-san. But that was a splendid show, truly! I have completely realized even <Eden> production job holders aren't to be taken lightly!"
Huh, hold on your high horse of praise, Maria. Rather, please don't lump us together with Hannah!? I don't know about others but that feat was impossible for me.
"Fufu. This Sli-Po marathon is actually the cornerstone of <Eden>. Everyone has grown stronger experiencing it!"
"My, that's sensational news! So this is the secret behind <Eden>. There really is no end to the sky. I understand!"
Hey-hey, we aren't not even a bit like that though, Hannah!?
No, I mean, yeah. I did have all the high-ranking job holders do the sli-po marathon until they're LV6 but she was speaking as if anyone of us could achieve that blurry speed!
Look, even Maria looked incredibly moved having wrong perception about us and writing all that down in her memopad...... I mentally made the note to make sure she knows Hannah is just that of an irregular and we can't achieve that.
"Rest is just dropping the mana stones into the <Big Alchemy Pot> and---<Alchemy>! Ta-dah, <Mana Stone (small)> are ready!"
With fluid movements, Hannah tossed the mana stones in one of big Alchemy Pot. Even her dexterity was on another level. Honestly, if someone came and told me Hannah is a pro in something like javelin throw, I wouldn't be surprised. But I am assuming that was the effect of a skill... at least, I want it to be. It's not wrong to daydream, right?
Anyway, <Alchemy> didn't need to be done one by one to work. More so with the <Max Production> and <Simplified Production LV5>. And---
"And then you do that, <Alchemy>! You can further have <Mana Stone (Mid)> like this. This round has yielded 25 mana stones."
"Oh my god! 25 of <Mana Stone (Mid)> in just a few minutes!? And they're usually hard to obtain as well. T-This is truly marvelous. A miracle!"
Maria gave her impression, but maybe she was too surprised that her voice was louder than usual. The production of mana stones this way must have been seen in a different light from her standpoint as <Merchant>.
The <Mana Stone (Mid)> were uncommon drops in the game, and that aspect seemed to have not changed in reality as well. Well, leaving aside drops, you could still purchase them infinitely in the game but not in reality.
I wasn't sure before but I realized it when the supply of mana stone had dried in the academy a while ago. I got to know about it only later but the lack of mana stones had apparently caused an uproar.
I mean we had our trump card Hannah so that's also why I only learned about it after the crisis was averted.
The aftermath of the event could now be felt in the upcoming events. Apparently the academy has issued an increase in reward for <Academy Quest - Chilling Convention> for this year that would take place in the summer vacation. From the look, they want as many students as possible to participate and harvest <Mana Stone> in abundance.
Oops, It seemed like Hannah and Maria were done with their talk while I had averted my eyes from reality for a while.
"Maria-san. Please take care of the <Mana Stone>."
"Gladly! It's why this <Helper> Maria is here for!"
Maria, having been entrusted with the duty to handle <Mana Stone>, nods confidently while shifting up her glasses.
Take care? Oh, right. I forgot to check but...what's our current stock of <Mana Stone>?