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High School Hack and Slash Chapter 26 Part 2

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Pasifista

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The reason why the level of miasma pressure was set in two stages was because monsters would end up naturally appearing should the miasma concentration was at the level of the first stratum.

Even so, it was not uncommon for amorphous monsters to appear, as in so-called psychic zones, and there were also occasional troubles where monsters accidentally ran wild due to skill fumbles.

「… What do you think you’re doing?」

The vice-president of the 『Adept Workers』 club, Rinko, hugged the pale faced club members protectively.

The workshop was a facility that any student could use.

In particular, the maintenance of equipment was essential for the dungeon conquering group.

The core of Rashōmon system, the 『rousing the souls controlling the spirits』 technique, switched material and astral.

The main purpose of this system was to train the souls (astral) of the humans who dived into the dungeon.

The restoration of damage to their fleshes and equipment when they logged out of the dungeon was no more than side effects.

Just as how one’s material was substituted with their astral by Rashōmon system when logged into the dungeon, the same went for their items and equipment as well.

The 『material』 of the item was replaced with its 『concept』, so even if it was damaged or destroyed in the dungeon, it would be restored to the state stored in Rashōmon.

However, the act of battling against monsters, which were the incarnation of the concept of 『hostile entity』, was a clash of the concept of 『equipment』 or 『weapon』 in particular, and the concept itself would be worn away.

An item whose concept was worn away would have the significance of its existence damaged.

A sword that was forged to be 『hard』 and 『sharp』 would degrade into 『brittle』 and 『dull』.

Origin gear, equipment forged with powerful passion or the embodiment of the concept itself, on the contrary, could display its full might exactly in the dungeon only.

「What you ask? You know, right?」

「Hehe. Ah, you don’t even know such a thing, huh.」

As the boy, who had barged into the booth occupied by 『Adept Workers』, turned his head, he displayed a similar vulgar smile to that of the other members who were of the same club as him.

「You bunch are such an eyesore. Loitering around close to us like that.」

「You can just stay away from us, right?」

The workshop was divided with partitioning screens, but it was of the one floor structure, and with the magic square as the center, it was divided into eighteen work booths.

Unless it was during a martial arts tournament or before the regular exam, the facility was never overcrowded.

On weekdays, most of the time, the users congregated right after the lunch break, and once past the peak, it was not uncommon for the facility to be deserted and unoccupied.

In fact, the only ones using the workshop at the moment were the members of 『Adept Workers』 and the 『Hungry Wolf Warband』 only.

The 『Hungry Wolf Warband (Wolfsritter)』 was a club formed for the purpose of conquering the dungeon.

It was a common pattern for parties of the same class who were originally close to each other to make up the head counts, before then applying for the establishment of a club.

Even though the goal was to conquer the dungeon, it was only natural for there to be differences in stance, with some clubs of battle faction focusing on leveling up and others whose purpose was to efficiently clear tasks.

Clubs that stood at the top of academy hierarchy would set their base at the special class club building, which also served as 『workshop area』, so they wouldn’t need to take the trouble of coming to this place.

「Or like, can you please stay away from our club members?」

Rinko stepped forward to shield the club members behind her.

Not only was Adept Workers a girl-only club, their club members were all of the 『Craftsman』 branching classes.

Their physical ability correction was low compared to that of combat classes.

「It’s fine, isn’t it? You have nothing to do anyway, don’t you?」

「If you’re not going to the dungeon and merely playing and fiddling with such junks, we’ll kindly keep you accompany.」

The grinning, faintly smiling boy observed the members of the 『Adept Workers』 club as if assessing them.

The uselessly lively and positive chibi president was nowhere to be seen, but she wasn’t up to his preference, so it was just right instead.

『Adept Workers』 tended to move in a group of sizeable number, but today there were only four of them in the workshop, including the vice president.

It was the perfect timing to lay their hands on the prey they had been eyeing since a long time ago.

『Wolfsritter』 was for better or worse a club of the battle faction, but the 『Craftsman』 members they managed to secure had all been lured and transferred.

Transferring between clubs in itself was not at all uncommon.

There were even freelancers who promoted themselves during club events and regularly moved from one club to another.

They didn’t realize the importance of such role until they were left behind by the 『Craftsman』 club members who had gotten fed up with being treated poorly.

A skilled and high-level 『Craftsman』 could even be a target for headhunting by the high ranked clubs.

As they progressed in academic year, the number of free, unaffiliated 『Craftsman』 was almost non-existent.

『Craftsman』 was an essential element of dungeon conquest, but one person in the club was sufficient for the task.

Much less to say about the treatment of non-combat classes that couldn’t be said to be favorable for the most part, so 『Craftsman』 who failed to find a place for themselves ended up opting to carrying out a class change to other combat class.

It took a lot of time and effort to train them from scratch.

So it was a natural development for them to have an eye on 『Adept Workers』, where the option of scouting could easily be done and seem to be fun in various ways.

「Let’s get along well. We’ll be sure to take care of you in various ways, alright, in various ways.」

「It’s not a bad deal for you guys either, right? We’ll even level you up in the dungeon.」

「… You should have come the day before yesterday. Since it’s no longer necessary now, after all.」

Placing one hand on her waist, Rinko combed her long and sleek hair with eyes half-closed.

The members of 『Wolfsritter』 who were meddling with them were three in number, but there seemed to be still a number of them inside the booth.

They had noticed that there were some people they didn’t recognize, people who were clearly not 『Craftsman』, but they hadn’t expected them to come meddling with them in such a direct manner.

However, as a group of girl-only non-combat class, 『Adept Workers』 experience in receiving this kind of meddling wasn’t not just once or twice occurrence.

「I’ve never heard good rumors, you know, about your club. Don’t you know that 『Craftsman』 have horizontal connections? Just know that there are no 『Craftsman』 who would willingly cooperate with you guys.」

「Oi, stop yapping your mouth so grandly. You lowly garbage class.」

With his face creasing and head arching backward, the boy looked down on Rinko.

Since the beginning, they had no intention of inviting them with gentle methods, and no matter how Rinko and the others responded to them, the method had long been decided.

The two boys standing behind him were already flaring their noses.

The members of the 『Adept Workers』 were all girls who had thoroughly come across that kind of eyes when they were still first year students.

Them ending up cowering, stiffening and frightened was akin to a conditioned reflex.

「… You better not look down on us. Us craftsmen.」

Rinko stepping back was not due to being frightened.

As the vice president, her desire to protect her club members and friends outweighed her trauma.

The tip of her held out left hand reached the area of magic squares that had been in active state.

「Armed, steel demon prosthetic arm (steel gauntlet).」

The outline of a wire frame emerged, covering the fingertips of her left hand to the upper arm.

Rather than an armored gauntlet, it was more like a robot from an anime, thick and bulging.

It was the 『Reinforced  External Skeleton (Armed Golem)』, a means of combat for 『Craftsman』 who possessed no direct firepower skills.

The creation of the 『Reinforced  External Skeleton (Armed Golem)』 was a basic ability of the 『Craftsman』 branching, but its function as a prime body depended on the individual.

Its base was ultimately a 『Craftsman』, a non-combatant class.

However, the abilities of the 『Reinforced  External Skeleton (Armed Golem)』, which incorporated dungeon materials and was enhanced with 『Craftsman』 skill, were by no means inferior to those of the combat class.

Not only was it possible to wear it on your body as armor like Rinko, who had only summoned a part of it at the moment, and should it be summoned in its entirety, it was also possible to utilize it as a stand-alone weapon with independent mobility.

However, the initial investment cost to enhance it to the level where it could clash against monsters could be said to be a huge penalty.

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