Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 165

Chapter 165: Alchemy and Enchantment Magic

With nothing in particular to do, Sora told Lucas to knock on the door if anything came up, and they all returned to their rooms.

Except, rather than each going to their assigned rooms, everyone naturally gathered in Sora’s room instead.

With four people, even the six-tatami room felt a bit cramped. The girls lounged on the sofa or bed, relaxing comfortably despite Sora being there, a male in spirit, making the atmosphere somewhat indescribable.

Maybe it was because Sora’s avatar was female that they didn’t seem conscious of her presence in that way. She thought about it briefly, but not knowing the reason, she decided not to ask, as it would only make things awkward.

A high school freshman, right in the midst of adolescence, Sora had become used to being around girls, something that might’ve flustered her in the past. Now, even with Kuro sitting right next to her, she was able to remain calm.

Kuro, who had taken off her black stockings, was showing off her bare legs. Sora is unsure whether the girl beside her is doing it on purpose or not.

Averted her gaze away, Sora focused on the open window screen in front of her, starting to consult with the support system ?Lucifel? about various cheat techniques only she could pull off.

?Well, Master, I must say you’ve thought this through. A rather cunning plan, if I may.?

In a robotic yet feminine voice, Lucifer half-admiringly and half-critically remarked. Sora chuckled, taking it as a compliment and grinned.

“Say what you will. There’s a chance they’ll patch it, but as long as we don’t get caught, they probably won’t rush to fix it.”

?I see. That explains why you burned through so many EL resources all at once. What seemed reckless at first turns out to be surprisingly well-planned.?

“Y-Yeah… sure… I totally thought it all through…”

?Your voice just went up a bit. And you’re hesitating quite a bit there, Master.?

“Quiet down, will you? The support system doesn’t need to nitpick,” Sora muttered, frowning as she scanned through the list of ‘Attack,’ ‘Defense,’ and ‘Support’ skills, separate from her item storage.

As she continued to debate skills with ?Lucifel?, Inori, who was spreading out some unfamiliar tools on the floor, suddenly asked, “I’ve heard that Sora’s enchantment skills can be used on avatars and weapons, but could they be used on items like this?”

She held up a blob of slime jelly typically used for making potions.

Enchantment skills on potion ingredients, huh? Sora hadn’t considered that. She stroked her chin, pondering.

Since starting ?Astral Online?, she’d never even thought of using enchantments on items. Even the beginner’s guide in the central square described ?Enchanter? as a profession that enhances adventurers, with no mention of items.

But what if? If it were possible to process drop items with enchantments, that could open the door to some intriguing alchemical creations. And if no one had done it before, it was worth exploring.

She thought that someone here might know the answer.

When Sora asked ?Lucifel?, the support system responded with a slight pause, as if momentarily startled.

?…Regarding item processing. This feature unlocked once your skill level reached 100.?

Sora’s mind froze.

She explained that the skill had become usable on items once her profession skill level reached 100.

When Sora asked how she hadn’t known, ?Lucifel? responded:

?At the time, you were so focused on reaching the skill level cap, and I thought I’d tell you if you asked. But then… it slipped my mind.?

Really?

Sure, she’d been excited about hitting the cap and the player-wide enhancement bonus, but who would have guessed that this feature had unlocked?

Since item processing never even crossed her mind, she’d never thought to ask, ?Can I use enchantment skills on items??

She wished she’d at least mentioned it in passing, but… if she forgot, then that’s that.

She was curious if a support system could really forget something, but pressing the issue wouldn’t change anything now.

Sora asked her to inform her of such things in the future, to which ?Lucifel? replied with a firm, ?Understood, Master.?

Inori then asked, “Sora, you look exhausted. Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Anyway, let’s try out the enchantment skill.”

Sora considered what to enchant on the slime jelly she’d handed her and decided to start with ?Fire Attribute Enchantment?.

The blue jelly turned a vibrant crimson, glowing with a red aura, resembling an apple.

The item name changed from ?Slime Jelly? to ?Fire Jelly?.

“Oh, the color changed! Looks like you tried a fire enchantment, but I wonder how it tastes and what it does?” Inori exclaimed.

“Taste?” Sora said, surprised.

Inori took the ?Fire Jelly? from Sora’s hand and gave it a small lick.

“Hmm, hmm, this is… apple jelly. The effect seems to temporarily increase fire resistance,” Inori concluded.

“Uh, right. Guess I’ll try all the enchantments on the slime jelly and see what changes. If I want to turn it into potions with alchemy, I’ll need to figure out how much of each type to make.”

“I’d like to test various things, so I’ll need 100 sets of each kind. And when that’s done, I’ll need 100 sets of green slime jelly and herbs too,” Inori requested eagerly.

“Wait, you mean… all of that, right now?”

“Of course! This’ll be an all-nighter, so let’s log out now, have dinner, and take a bathroom break before starting. …Ah, no worries about MP. I have over a thousand instant-recovery magic potions,” she added casually.

It seemed the switch for her hardcore alchemist gamer mode was fully activated. With shining eyes, Inori continued, “After we’re done with items, we could try ingots too. Luckily, there’s a blacksmith NPC here, so I can probably mass-produce arrows.”

She was laying out her entire plan like a spell, prepared for an intense session. Just enchanting 100 sets of items alone would mean an all-nighter, and adding ingots could push them into the following afternoon.

But if anyone knew that there was no stopping Inori when she was like this, it was Sora. Plus, helping her could be worthwhile. She might even get some rare items from a top-tier alchemist.

And, most importantly, tomorrow was the first Saturday of the month—no school. A little sleep loss wouldn’t hurt (though she’d plan to apologize to Shino later for skipping their morning weekend ritual).

It was already close to 8 p.m. Stroking the sleepy-looking Kuro’s head gently, Sora said, “Um… Kuro, make sure you get some real-world sleep. Inori and I are off to dive into the world of discovery.”

“Mm, got it…”

With new tasks ahead, Sora and the others decided to log out briefly.