Preparation Turn

Quest prep turn!!

And so, I had Miitei-chan crank out potions en masse to grind her skill level.

That said, since the actual work was happening back at Home, I was using Alto's Home as a relay to ferry materials over from Royal Capital Frirene.

"Hupp, hupp! Potion's done! Gonna make the next one!"

"Yup, keep cranking them out. Use as much of the materials as you want."

We were making them as fast as we could, and since naturally they wanted any potions we didn't use in the actual exploration returned, the deal was potions in exchange for materials.

Their side was happy because their materials were being turned into finished products, and our side was happy because we could farm skill levels to our heart's content. Win-win.

"Nom nom…"

Every so often, Miitei-chan was snacking on a medicinal herb. …Well, we'd just chalk up the nibbling as her technical fee and labor cost. She was munching down quite a lot of them, though… MP recovery, maybe? Well, if it's basically free skill XP farming, I'll let it slide. Yup.

"Wooohoooo, I'm a potion-making machine right now!"

"Herbs go in from the right, potions come out on the left… Mm, that's beautiful."

"You praised me! I'm so happy! Yaaay!"

Oh, she sped up.

Ah, that one failed.

"…I'm sorry."

"It's fine, failures are part of the expenses too! If anything, crank it up a notch! Yeah?"

"Okay… I'll crank it up!"

And with that, she was hammering out alchemy at full tilt again. Yep, yep, nice. That's the way. Keep it up.

And so, after restocking her materials and collecting her potions, it was time to head over to Penpen next.

Restock her with materials, collect from her too.

"Oh, you're cranking out potions here too."

"Since we've got free rein on materials, I figured I might as well. I'm not about to lose to Miitei-chan just yet!"

Penpen had been going the crafting route, veering toward cooking and furniture, but she was still ahead of Miitei-chan when it came to potion-style alchemy skills.

And now she was seizing the moment, burning through materials like crazy to power-level herself.

"Oh, the potions I made are over there."

"Gotcha."

I scooped up the potions strewn carelessly nearby and collected them.

Then I poured in the new materials.

"Oh, there's status-recovery potions in here too."

"You should have Miitei-chan make these too! They often use rare materials, so the XP's huge. Now's the chance! Though if you fail them, the XP efficiency is terrible!"

"Ah, I'm having her make those too. You even provided the recipes, after all!"

As for the recipes you could buy with money, I was being shown every one that matched my alchemy level and alchemist certification rank.

The official line is that high-difficulty recipes have such a high failure rate when your level isn't up to snuff that they won't show them to you unless you've properly ranked up. But unlocking more recipes with rank-ups is a very game-like touch, isn't it?

And so, that's exactly why you grind levels and get certified, to expand the list of viewable recipes!

Man, limited-time events are the best! Royalty gigs are the best! Expenses are the best!!

Oh yeah, what kind of prep was Alto up to?

Just as I was bringing the potions back, Alto returned too, looking a bit worn out.

"Mnhhh."

"Oh, perfect timing. How's it going on your end?"

"Ohh. Preliminary scouting's mostly done, yo."

"Oh ho, preliminary scouting."

Just what did preliminary scouting for a dungeon clear involve? Gathering intel at the Adventurer Guild, maybe?

"For starters, I actually went and pushed all the way to right before the boss room, yo."

"Ah. Preliminary scouting (solo clear)."

Well, even if you check a map or whatever, actually going there in person is what matters.

And if she could say she made it solo, that's pretty reassuring.

"The monsters weren't a problem, yo. The real issue is how much the prince's skill is gonna mess with the clearability, yo."

"There are narrow passages, so not that many will be able to swarm at once. And even when they do come, they'll have to take turns."

"We can't bring a whole army either, but the other side's got the same restriction, yo."

Yep, yep. Narrow passages, huh. It's a pain when you can't fit a big group in.

…

Huh? If the passages are narrow, that means… Miitei-chan might actually turn into a pretty solid combat asset?

At the very least, if she travels along the ceiling, she won't be in anyone's way, and that's one extra fighter added to our force…!?

"Oh-oh-oh, that's a great idea, yo. I was also planning to call Nika-chan in as the rearguard, yo."

"Come to think of it, it'd probably be fine to go in with a full party of six… no, let's leave Penpen behind. Combat-wise Gin-chan's stronger, and if Penpen were to die, that'd be the most trouble."

"I'll factor the scouting into the party composition too, yo."

And so, preparations kept rolling along smoothly.

In-game time, it looked like the day after tomorrow we'd be taking the prince into the dungeon!