Hecate practiced her new metal casting method for 3 whole hours without stopping.

This metal casting method involves carefully controlling the mana into various shapes, compressing it, and using it as a mold for the molten metal to cool. No other media such as sand or resin is needed, and the mold can evaporate by itself after the cooling process is complete, saving time for the finishing process.

However, of course this method has drawbacks, namely that it requires concentration and consumes a lot of MP to maintain solidity until the metal cools. The larger the mold, the greater the MP consumption.

Fortunately, Hecate spends all of her stats on INT, making her maximum MP very high. Otherwise, the mold will evaporate prematurely before the metal cools completely. If that happens, the final product will undoubtedly fail and turn into a strange shape.

'A new method that hasn't appeared in the game yet. Let's call this method, Mana Metalcasting!'

After a while, Hecate got used to this method.

Many metal objects of various shapes without any use were created while she was practicing. The scrap metal was melted back into liquid metal and reused for his training.

And if her MP is low, Hecate just sits quietly and lets the passive skill Meditate regenerate her MP faster.

Soon after, Hecate thought of the correct way to utilize Mana Metalcasting.

She opened her interface and looked for her Skill List, then she clicked on Blueprint Research.

A new window appeared, and the contents within that window were the culmination of Hecate's crafting successes to date, recorded as Blueprints, and much more she had gathered from various sources, such as mission rewards or from the internet.

Blueprints are the lifeline of all production subclasses and are valuable knowledge.

Seeing people selling and trading blueprints on the market is also a common sight. Of course, not all blueprints are good, but if they are good, their value will rise to more than real estate.

It was said that a Castle blueprint from a Master Architect was purchased for ¥100 million in a real world auction.

Although sometimes, there are good(?) people who pirate share blueprints on the internet.

Hecate clicked on one of the blueprints and printed its contents onto the blank paper. She took out some measuring tools and began to adjust the design drawing on paper to his needs.

She then adjusted her mana into the shape of the desired part and used it as a mold, then poured molten metal into it. The process takes less than 10 seconds. It's just that the metal cooling process takes the longest.

After that, everything is like a copy-paste process.

Unfortunately, Hecate can only use this method to create basic shape parts. Meanwhile, to make complicated parts, she still needs to use several processing procedures.

Even so, it was still a breakthrough method that greatly reduced the time Hecate needed to craft an item.

Hecate spent another hour crafting several items.

Even though Hecate is an Archwitch, that doesn't mean she can only use magic for hunting.

Ascension is a VRMMO game with high freedom of action. Players are not restricted in using methods other than using game skills for their hunts. In other words, throwing bombs or using traps are still legal actions.

Even so, Hecate does not have skills related to traps because she is not a Hunter or Ranger class. She will not get any benefits from the skill, such as bonus damage or increased area of effect when she uses trap items.

As for other items...

It was equipment that the system deemed more suitable for Assassins and their enhancement classes. She used a motorized pulley design available on the internet and used 4m of Steel Wire to make this Grappling Hook.

Normally, Hecate couldn't use this equipment due to her class restrictions.

But in Ascension, crafters have special privileges. They could bypass the equipment requirements they created themselves, but if they did, they only got half of the effects of the equipment.

Though, such penalty didn't mean much to Hecate.

'Well, at least the mechanism is still working as it should. All that's left is the live test!'

Hecate nodded in satisfaction with the results and made more Landmines. Then, after around 20 Landmines were created, she suddenly got a window notification.

"Oh...?"

Some Extra Skills have appeared!

It had been a long time since she received this notification. After she got the Meditate skill 2 years ago, she hasn't gotten any Extra Skills until now.

At that time, she was too focused on leveling up and neglected Extra Skills.

♠♠♠

 

Ascension has many skills that can be learned.

However, most learnable skills require the learner to have a certain Subclass before they can learn the skill.

For example, if you want to learn the Cooking skill, then you must have the Chef Subclass first. And if you want to learn Farming skills, then you have to become a Farmer first.

The maximum number of subclasses a player can have is only 3.  Once this number is reached, they will not be able to add any more Subclasses unless they remove one to make room. And if they do, they lose all Skills of the removed Subclass.

Gaming Skills play an important role in this gaming world. Without it, players won't be able to do much in the game.

For example, without the Cooking skill, players will not be able to cook no matter how good they are in the real world. The same is true for native people.¹Just think of Log Horizon anime

Skills outside the Subclass category are called Extra Skills and can be learned regardless of Subclass. However, this skill was rare and even if someone discovered the conditions for learning it, they would definitely want to keep it to themselves.

♠♠♠

 

Hecate was thinking about the use of her new skills.

Because she gained Precision Mana Control, she could change the shape of the Mana Stones she created. And Mana Stone will look like an ordinary white stone if it was not used as an energy source. And because she could control the MP used when making Mana Stones, she could use the skill as much as she wanted.

'Hah? Does this mean I can create unlimited materials as long as I have MP?'

To test this hypothesis, she immediately used the skill.

"Mana Stone Making - Shape: Brick - MP used: 100..."

In that instant, blue light shot out from her hand and condensed slowly into the shape of a white brick. But the light suddenly stopped halfway before the brick changed to a quarter of its shape.

It was not hard to guess the reason.

"It seems the MP used is too low... Then, 1000 MP!"

The light continues to shine, ensures the process completes smoothly.

And a few moments later, a white brick managed to appear in her hand.

When Hecate saw the details of the brick, she couldn't help but be disappointed.

"Its durability is only 11... it's too fragile..."

This brick were no different from clay molds.

There was no way she would use such defective materials. If she really used it as part of her crafting items, who knows when it would malfunction and break.

"Then let's test whether I use 30000 MP...Creation Mana Stone!"

Another brick appeared in his hand, but this time it was a different brick.

Hecate smiled in delight. It turned out that the MP used affected the durability of the brick.

She then created two more Mana Stones but with 10,000 MP and 20,000 MP respectively. As a result, a brick with 10,000 MP gets a durability of 99, and a brick with 20,000 MP gets a durability of 198.

From the looks of it, the brick gets 1 durability for every 100 MP used, so 30000 MP gives around 300 durability.

“Regarding the amount lost, perhaps the shape also influences the results. The bigger the shape, the more MP it requires.”

With that, she understood the Skill even more.

While Hecate was busy with her thoughts, a small login notification caught her attention.

It seemed she was too busy with her research that she lost track of time.

"It's time for the guild meeting."

A day has passed since the battle of betrayal and the Death Penalty of her guildmates has expired. They should have respawned at their Save Points by now one by one.

Hecate stuffed all the Magic Bricks into her inventory.

She then hit her cheek and adjusted her facial expression.