Manowa Chapter 225

Kazane and the others had left Minshiana, but since they had to make sure Ao's appearance wasn't seen on the return journey, they were flying at low alt.i.tude while being vigilant of their surroundings. They obeyed the warning they received on the way there and took a detour around Soldard, so the return journey would likely take twice as long.

And Kazane wasn't playing around during that time. She was designing Jinrai's prosthetic arm while they were traveling, including adjusting the Muscle Clay inside its exoskeleton, and doing kick technique training at night. Kazane roughly mastered the contents of the tonfa primer in a short period of time due to the increased ability from her level and was now mainly putting it into practice by training using Golems.

And then they planned to reach the East Dragon Village the next day, so it was now the last night before their journey's end.

◎ Monshia Kingdom, Curia Dark Forest, Golem Cottage, Outdoor Training Ground

「As expected, it's slow, isn't it.」

Kazane muttered while looking at the training Golem she had destroyed.

「Well, Golems' selling points are their hardness and strength. Speed isn't regarded as important from the start.」

Ao was with her and responded to her complaint. Ao had been training Tatsuo. But it was around 23:00, so Tatsuo's steady breathing was audible as he dreamed on the summoned Yuuko-nee's stomach.

「Zombies nowadays run, don't they? Maybe Golems should go that route too.」

Kazane was talking about movie zombies. There was no fact about the movement speed of zombies increasing in recent years on this Philon continent.

「The zombies in this world are fighting types, so they run. It seems to be largely based on the body they're made from.」

As Ao said, there were zombies in this world. Depending on the surrounding environment, corpses would turn into zombies if they were not properly disposed of. Because their eyes glowed with red magical light, they were easy to recognize even at night. Depending on the specs of the body before it died and the ability of the ghost that possessed it, there were cases where they were strong and considerably difficult to defeat.

「Rather, if you increase the movement speed of a Golem like that, won't its endurance decrease and make it brittle?」

「Yeah, it becomes brittle.」

If speed was emphasized, flexible joints were necessary, but then important parts of the Golem would become fragile, which ruined the st.u.r.diness that was the selling point of Golems.

Since Hippo-kun and Hippomaru-kun's movement patterns were completely dedicated to movement and had fixed movable ranges, it seemed they could maintain a considerable speed.

She was currently experimenting with horse, knight, and centaur model prototypes to use for speed-oriented combat. They were also test cases for her Tatsuyoshi-kun remodeling plan.

「Speed and defensive ability coexist in Tatsuyoshi-kun, and I've been improving that.」

Tatsuyoshi-kun was a Muscle Clay Golem wearing an exoskeleton. Since it relied on its exoskeleton for defense, its Status was completely dedicated to mobility, but since she didn't have the right Golem movement patterns for the flexible Muscle Clay, it currently had a limiter on.

「Recently, I've been transplanting the behavioral routines Normal has learned from Lyle into Dragoon, but it's only slightly powering it up for now.」

「It'd be nice if you had the Puppeteer behavior patterns.」

「Well, it'll get there eventually, right?」

Originally, the material Muscle Clay could make Golems that jumped around like monkeys as they defeated enemies.

Kazane had been trying to build a behavior pattern that would allow Tatsuyoshi-kun to use a high-speed mobile battle style that was on par with a Puppeteer, but she hadn't accomplished it yet.

(Well, making something completely new by combining existing sample patterns is asking too much, though)

The throwing specialization of the ma.s.s production Tatsuyoshi-kun models was one thing, but she couldn't currently do it with the basic close combat Golem behavior patterns.

「When it comes to what I can do to strengthen it now, should I think about strengthening the weapons and installing a Power Orb (small)? I would have to consult Master for genuine remodeling, though.」

Now that she had s.p.a.ce Expansion, being particular about portability was no longer necessary. Master should be in Gordias City, where the rank A dungeon was, so it seemed like she could do something more when they went there.

「I wish I could directly reflect my will like with this, though.」

Kazane took something like an arm out of her Item Box.

「Jinrai-san's prosthetic arm?」

It had already been shown to Ao several times during the journey.

(No, but if I give direct instructions like with Flame Knights or the summoned knight from the Grand Tournament... I should be able to send instructions with Information Link)

Kazane was looking at the prosthetic arm with a serious expression, so Ao asked a question.

「Will you be making adjustments after this?」

Although the reason for her gaze was different, she actually was planning to do that, so Kazane nodded.

「Jinrai-san might be putting it on tomorrow. I have to be as sure is I can be.」

「I see. As ever, it's splendid workmanship. It's like an uncolored anatomical model.」

The prosthetic arm Kazane was holding was a combination of a Black Rock Dragon finger bone for the arm part, wing tip bones for the fingers, and Muscle Clay arranged to look like a human arm. The Dragon Heart from the Beared Dragon was installed in the shoulder part and supplied magical power. Jinrai's prosthetic arm would be complete when it was covered with the gauntlet she told Lyle to order before she departed.

Jinrai had less Magic Power than the average human. So he couldn't output enough to use two-handed techniques and could only handle one-handed technique. That could be aided with this prosthetic arm and the Beared Dragon's Heart. The Dragon Heart of a Beared Dragon had the same Magic Power output of a layer 50 Childstone.

Ao thought using a power source that provided motive power for an entire dragon for a single arm was obviously overkill, but the Beared Dragon was originally finished off by Yuuko-nee and Jinrai. So it wasn't like he didn't understand Kazane's insistence that the Dragon Heart should rightfully be used for Jinrai.

「Nevertheless, you were able to make it right away thanks to putting something from Zexiaharts to practical use, right? I didn't know it had prosthetic arms.」

「Is that so? But didn't you ever see people with prosthetic arms?」

「Now that you mention it, I feel like I did, but that was a very long time ago.」

For Ao, Zexiaharts was something from more than 800 years ago.

「Prosthetic arms were implemented for a while during a major update. But... there was a problem...」

Kazane slightly hesitated to speak. When Ao tilted his head, Kazane continued like it was difficult to speak about.

「Look, prosthetic arms and legs are made for people without limbs, aren't they?」

Ao thought that was a matter of course. After all, Jinrai's prosthetic arm was made because his arm was lost.

「So, prosthetic arms are romantic, aren't they? You can make them various things like drills, cannons, etc, right?」

「Well... something like a rocket punch would be desired, right?」

「So, it's a game, isn't it? You want it, don't you? You just have to get your limb chopped off, right?」

After listening that far, Ao understood.

「No way, people cut them off themselves?」

Kazane nodded after Ao's question.

「They whacked them off right away. It caused ability restrictions, but they were romance weapons, so everyone still took part. Words related to self-amputation became popular even in grade schools, so PTAs and the like started getting involved. The service was quickly discontinued before it became a major problem.」

Kazane told him that those times were scary; arms and legs would be rolling around inside the Adventurers Guild tavern. Ao bitterly smiled as he imagined the scene in his head.

「But it's surprising that such a thing was implemented.」

「It's a mystery, isn't it? Was their judgement simply naive? I don't really know. Because of that, only the players who had changed their limbs to prosthetic ones during that short period had them, and the cyborgs were envied afterwards, right?」

Ao thought that envying something that became rare was natural.

「It was quite famous. It's surprising that Ao-san didn't know about it.」

「I only played Zexiaharts for half a year. Well, I'm an 800-year player in this world.」

「That would be an inexcusable play time, right?」

Ao smiled and nodded after Kazane's words. Her last night with Ao pa.s.sed by like that. They would be able to return to the East Dragon Village tomorrow. Kazane would also be able to meet her companions after a long time.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Magic Swordswoman

t.i.tle: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner, Rea King

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Adhesion Sword『Gum』, Spell Dagger Feather x2, Dragonscale Breastplate, Drake Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Sylphyn Skirt, Plasma Pants, Dragon Eating Ogre King's Greaves, Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, Magic Acc.u.mulator, White Magic Acc.u.mulator, Rainbow Necklace, Rainbow Dragon Ring

Level : 32

Health: 124

Magic Power: 235+420

Strength: 55+20

Agility: 50+14

Endurance: 32

Wisdom : 62

Dexterity : 39

Spell : 『Fly』『Torch』『Fire』『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』『Golden Dusk「Dragon Exclusive」』『Mirror Shield』

Skill : 『Kick Devil』『Warrior's Memory』『Night Vision』『Crushing Blow』『Dog's Sense of Smell: Lv2』『Golem Maker: Lv3』『Rush』『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』『Air Jump: Lv2』『Killing Leg: Lv3』『Fear Voice』『Invisible』『Tiger Eye』『Wall Walking』『Intuition』『Cheat Death』『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield: Lv2』『Information Link』『Optical Camouflage』『Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Placement』『Thunder Chariot: Lv2』『St.u.r.dier Teeth: Lv2「Dragon」』『Crystallization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Fabricated Coercion』『Stone Minotaur』『Mega Beam: Lv2』『s.p.a.ce Expansion』『Pseudo-silver Creation』『Poison Claw』『Fireball「Dragon」』『Cuticle「Dragon」』『Arms Creation: Black Flame』

Yumika:「I have a hunch that master is going to become incredible......」

Kazane:「It was hard to give up on the rocket punch, but I couldn't get it to return.」