Chapter 10 : Equipment Completion and Test Swing


“Okay, It’s finished. The equipment.

“Ohh! Thank you, Cocoa-chan!”

After being used as Cocoa-chan’s dress-up doll and having been patted a lot, the personal equipment that I requested had been done.
It was simply fun, so I couldn’t help but wonder if that was really considered okay as compensation, but if the person herself says it’s fine, then I guess it should be fine, right?

“Ehehe, how does it look?”

“Yep, perfect.”

I put on the equipment she handed over to me without delay and struck a light pose, showcasing it. Cocoa-chan responded with a firm thumbs up.

The first thing that stood out was the big staff that was casted towards the sky.
Its impressive length was at least the same, if not longer than my current height as “Bell”. It was also dyed in what you could consider my personal color, a snowy silver, and the end of it was inlaid with a blue gemstone.
Only, the jewel was big as well, so judging from appearance alone, it looked and felt more like a giant hammer than a staff. What was a staff even anyways?


Name : Greatstaff Aqua Snow
Type : Staff
Equip Requirements : Level 12 and above, ATK 30 and above
Effects : INT +50, MP +20


Rather than a staff, wasn’t this a club? It’s not wrong if you think about how I’m going to use it, but this was definitely a hammer! It’s treated as a staff though!

Well, let’s put that aside for now. Next was the clothes I was wearing.
At first, they were unrefined adventurer-like clothes, but now it’s become a snow white robe that gently floated along with my movements.
The innerwear that I had on underneath was a camisole with its main point being the small ribbon which garnished the chest area and I also had a navy-blue mini-skirt as well.

Considering that my fighting style involved jumping and flying around, I was a little worried that I was practically too defenseless from below. Though according to Cocoa-chan, it was okay since you wouldn’t be able to see anything because of, not a mysterious light, but a mysterious shadow.
Still, what even was a mysterious light or shadow?


Name :「New Snow Witch」Series
Type : Robe, Innerwear, Boots
Equip Requirements : Level 12 and above
Effects : DEF +20, MIND +30, AGI +30


In any case, my stats were raised quite a bit with just this.
When I swung around my new staff, the Aqua Snow, I could feel some of the pulling weight from the segment that became bigger unsurprisingly. Though once I get used to it, it’ll probably be alright.
Then, I didn’t have a way to confirm my defensive power, but there was a understandably clear difference in my AGI. My body felt light and when I tried leaping up at full force on the spot, I was able to jump to a height that even startled me a little.
I see, so this is how it feels when you raise AGI.
This is fun on its own, but on the other hand, it felt like it’d be a hindrance in combat if you overdid it. I wonder if I’ll somehow be able to get used to it with practice?

“Bell, how does it feel wearing it? I matched your requests as much as possible and while I put an emphasis on its cuteness-…… Ahem, I mean ease of movement, I also tried making the staff balanced between firepower and reach.

Just now, did she try to say she emphasized its cuteness? I guess it was a good demand in exchange for the price. Cocoa-chan had unexpectedly taken a fancy to this body of mine.
It’d be nice if Shizuku liked it just as much though.
Ah, I might as well ask for some of those screenshots earlier and show them to Shizuku later. If I do that, then by some chance, she might forget about the condition and let me play together with her.

“Bell?”

“Ah, sorry I zoned out! Yeah, it’s just perfect. Thanks Cocoa-chan!”

As Cocoa-chan limply tilted her head, I hurriedly glossed over my thoughts and said my gratitude.
No good, no good. I shouldn’t be thinking of others while I was in the middle of a conversation. I’ll have to reflect on that.

“Alright! Well then, let’s promptly take revenge on that blasted golem! So with that reason, I’ll be out for a while!”

“W-wait, I’ll come with you”

“Eh? Cocoa-chan too?”

I batted my eyes at her unexpected offer.
Cocoa-chan informed me about a lot of things over production classes during the making of my equipment, but I was pretty sure that I was told that players who were production mains don’t really participate in combat very often.
I never would’ve thought that the same person who had said that was now suggesting that she was going to follow me into battle, but it seems like there was also a reason for her doing so.

“I did say I wouldn’t fight, but I still need the essential materials for production. It’ll be safer for me to collect them while moving around together with a combative player, and I could serve as a support role for Bell which I think would make it easier. I can sell the drop items on a more expensive side and supply you with potions…… I’m a «Priest», so I’m also able to use support magic too.”

“I see~”

Certainly, now that you mention it, that might’ve been exactly right.
Since I was so focused on playing with Shizuku, it completely slipped my mind but, there were a lot of other players and it was normal to play together with them
When it comes time to play with Shizuku, it wouldn’t look cool if I didn’t know what I was doing and wandered around all over the place. If I think of this as practice, I’m rather grateful for it.

“If that’s how it is, let’s play together! Ah, wouldn’t it be better to go somewhere other than the plains then?”

“Not really, the kinds of minerals that you could get from the golems were used in crafting weapons, so it’s all good.”

“Got it! In that case, let’s go!”

Oh~! I clutched my staff, raising it into the air as I formed a party with Cocoa-chan and we both headed towards the plains together.
Naturally, the first thing we came across was a sand goblin. In addition to that, there were 3 of them gathered around in a relaxed manner.

Their sand-colored skin served as camouflage, making them hard to spot from a distance, but as you approach, their appearances become normally recognized. On top of that, the goblins don’t really notice a player’s presence until they get fairly close up, so as a matter of fact, it’s a bit doubtful whether or not the camouflage had any real meaning.

Well, I guess it was fine since the mood was conveyed.

“Now then, without further ado, it’s time for a test swing! Here I go!!”

“Wait-, Bell!?”

When I lifted up my staff and broke off into a run, I felt as if I’d heard Cocoa-chan yelling after me in a panicked voice. However, I was already within the sand goblin’s detection radius. They made gyaagyaa-like squawking sounds that were grating on the ears as they turned towards me.

“There!”

“Gugyaa!?”

One hit upon the encounter. Without using particularly any skills, I struck the closest sand goblin in its shoulder. So far, there hasn’t been any notable changes. That one blow had erased a large amount of its HP, but it wasn’t enough to defeat it.
Well, this new equipment just simply raised my INT after all, it couldn’t be helped if there were no changes in my physical damage.

Though, its extended reach was surprisingly large.
Since I was now able to attack with a wider field of view than before, I won’t miss out on seeing my other opponents’ movements.

“Gyaa, gyaa!”

“Naive, naive!”

While avoiding the angled slash of the 2nd goblin, I spun my body around and smashed the crown of its head with my staff.
Immediately after the bright red damage effect dispersed out, the critical damage caused the 2nd goblin’s HP to reach 0.
In a last spark of brilliance before its death, the goblin’s body shatters into polygon pieces. While that happened, the other remaining goblin concealed itself behind that effect and rushed towards me.
I believed it was just a coincidence, but still, what timing. Furthermore, the first goblin who was staggered at the beginning returned to the fight and released a delayed horizontal slice.

Even though these goblins only had 2 or 3 attack patterns, when they grouped up, the attacks became quite unpleasant. Well, it doesn’t matter as long as it doesn’t hit!

“Teyaaaah!”

I made full use of the AGI that was boosted with the equipment’s capabilities and performed a great jump.
I evaded their attacks as I came down from the sky, rotating my body similarly to a top before swinging my staff with the force of my strength behind it.
The attack splendidly lands a clean hit on the goblins’ heads. Upon confirming that they had disappeared after being reduced to polygon pieces, I left the ground and twirled around.

“Nn~, nice! This feels great~!”

While striking a victory pose, I spun my staff around before fixating it on my back once again.
Man, I thought I’d have some trouble getting used to the new staff since it was a big change from the Wooden Staff, but that wasn’t the case at all. If anything, this staff really fitted my hands.
This too, was likely due to Cocoa-chan properly accepting even the parts of my requests that I couldn’t put into words very well.

“Ehh…… what even was that, just now…….”

When I looked back to express my gratitude once again, Cocoa-chan had a stiff look on her face and muttered something in a daze.
I wonder what happened?

“Bell…… I thought about this earlier too, but how were you able to dodge a goblin’s attack at point-blank range?”

“Eh? Isn’t it avoidable? It wasn’t that fast after all. It’s not much different from a junior high school student’s swing with a bamboo sword, you know.”

“No way. Rather, even if they were just avoiding something, an ordinary person wouldn’t be able to dodge a junior high school student’s bamboo sword from directly in front of them. Supposing that they could, to be able to evade attacks that were flying towards you from 2 directions and perform such an acrobatic counter-attack after that…… Why were you able to cleanly hit the heads of the goblins in a single swing while they were both in front and behind you as you’re doing a somersault? Where were your eyes even attached?”

“Where, you ask. I only had them right here though?”

Pii. I pointed to the location of where my eyes were and Cocoa-chan wholeheartedly held her head in her hand, mumbling “Haa…… This is why…….”
Hmm, well certainly, there wouldn’t be anyone who could act out such a somersault in reality, but this was inside of a game. With some AGI, your body could move much more compared to real life and you can fully approach others without fear. I think anyone was able to do just about that much though.

“Well whatever, it’s useless to explain common sense to onee-chan and I’ve known this already too……”

“Eh, did you say something?”

“I said Bell sure was amazing.”

“Fufufu, right? But I still have a long way to go. I’ll have to try much harder if I want to get Tia’s approval!!”

As I tightly clenched my fist while saying so, Cocoa-chan cheered me on by replying, “D-do your best, I guess.”
I thought I’d seen her cheek somewhat stiffen though, I wonder what’s wrong?

“…… At the very least, I already feel like I’m losing in terms of physical fitness….. Though, if I figure out a way around it…… Gu-, I won’t lose out……!”

Cocoa-chan grits her teeth in frustration as she continued to mumble, complaining about something.
By any chance, was she perhaps worried about me running in alone?
I went ahead since I wanted to try out my new staff as soon as possible, but I was in a party now so maybe I should pay a little more attention to that.

While having such thoughts, both Cocoa-chan and I proceeded onwards, heading to the foot of the mountain.

---

Previous – Title – Next