ch441-ch460 · 449-ch449

Chapter 449: The Mass-Production Invincible Box

"Fine by me?"

When we got back, I asked Mia-san to confirm that throwaways are a no-go—and the reply came back breezily.

"Is it really all right, every time, to leave behind something you worked so hard to make?"

Incidentally, we DID collect it properly today?

We fell back to the 'Gate to Floor 45's' position, confirmed no arrows were coming, then went outside and used Hyper Mode.

There was MP to spare this time.

Ogre skeletons had gathered too, so I left wiping them out to the three of them.

Before we sortied from the box, Kasumi-san had already hit Level 47—so we confirmed the EXP does land properly even inside the invincible box.

Then we wiped out the skeletons, folded it up nice and neat, and carried it home.

Right now Mia-san is inspecting the armor's condition, and that's where the throwaway talk came up.

"Not taking care of things is unacceptable, but if you're leaving behind something BUILT as a throwaway from the start, I won't get angry. Arrows are like that—and have I ever told you to bring back the throwing spears? Besides, when I build something as a throwaway, I lower the quality too, to cut costs."

No, I DO retrieve the 'Lilliputian Spear' properly, you know?

Except for boss fights—when there's no intention of collecting from the start, I use orc spears.

Well, occasionally I over-charge and lose one......

"Then may I order mass production of the invincible box? Two or so each time should do. Please take the fee out of the weapons sales—and as usual, from somewhere that has nothing to do with Haruki-san."

Kasumi-san orders a whole fleet of invincible boxes.

Soushi and Aikawa won't be there every time, and thinking about going deeper from here, collecting the box as safely as today should become impossible.

If leaving it behind is the premise, we can hole up in the invincible box until the very last MP, so efficiency should improve too.

Well, separate from the mass-production model, I do intend to keep researching the TRUE invincible box......

"Hmm, about that—stocking up that many things that big is an MP problem...... The undercarriage trolley, we'll have you bring that home...... The template's done, and since we're at it, have the idler do it. For mass production, let the machine handle the sheet metal itself and have her do only the finishing. After that, just have her make the window fittings and the connecting joints."

Speaking of the undercarriage—the one with free time is Robo-ko-san, the so-called 【Blacksmith】.

Mass-importing machine-made steel plate into the dungeon might leave a record, but we'll just say it was used for the robot, and borrow Robo-ko-san's name for it too.

They've been snooping around a lot lately, after all.

Maybe we'll spread a rumor that Robo-ko-san is building some mysterious giant robot.

And she gets paid extra for the trouble......

"Hey, Haru-kun, your level's gone up too, right? Not taking any new skills? Surely there's some shield skill that'd make things a bit easier."

That thing.

I actually have 3 points sitting spare.

The catch with the Charge-line skills is that nothing related activates unless the Charge itself is running—but in exchange, each one costs only 1 point to learn.

In other words, I'm in a state where I COULD learn 3 related skills.

"No, I can't. I can't have the Floor 50 dream anymore, you see......"

I want to learn them, badly—but my getting stronger means MY skeleton gets stronger too.

Ever since I dreamed of conquering Floor 50 once, I've stopped having the Floor 50 dream.

Chiharu-san is the same.

In other words, we can no longer spar against our strengthened skeletons.

The one Floor 50 boss we can say with certainty we'd beat is the skeleton of ourselves as we are NOW.

If it gets any stronger than that, who knows what happens......

Say, for instance, I took 【Sphere Shield】—the skill that raises a spherical membrane of enhancement around your body.

In that case, my copy skeleton would start using 【Sphere Shield】 too.

【Sphere Shield】 itself could be pierced by a Charge technique with more MP banked—but that creates a lag, right then and there.

If I'm in Hyper Mode, the other side is naturally in Hyper Mode too, and that one lag, that one instant of delay, could see my all-out attack deflected.

My single greatest strength in the boss room—releasing MP banked in advance—is something I want to avoid being forced to spend there.

Knowing this kind of thing would happen, I can't learn new skills.

Same reason I've been building things like the 'Spring Shadow-maru' and the invincible box—but I have no intention of bringing them to Floor 50.

The skeletons' level itself was 50 from the start, and per Chiharu-san that hasn't changed even since she hit 50—so raising it should be fine, though.

"Same for me. I've asked those three not to take any new skills either."

Kasumi-san too, huh......

Once the invincible box testing is done, we level straight up to 50.

And then—Floor 50.

I don't want to take Kasumi-san, but I still can't think of a way to persuade her out of it.

Even though there may not be many days left......