Second floor, the workshop area.
As the only area in the entire Astral Outpost built completely out of steel, the workshop area looked, from a distance, exactly like an oversized furnace.
The drifting black smoke gave off the pungent smell of burning charcoal, but the craftsmen who had always lived here had long since grown comfortable and at ease with it.
Andrew, leading Hoshimi Miyabi and Kaelu—one human and one cat—had only just reached the doorway of the Second Fleet's workshop when the scorching heat came rushing at his face.
Countless materials were piled up in the corners, and the enormous bellows howled under the force of the iron hooks.
The enormous torches that burned day and night without cease were forever ablaze with vigorous flames, ceaselessly licking at the furnaces above them, searing the monster materials placed within until they glowed red-hot.
And beside the furnaces.
The craftsmen swinging their great hammers forged the materials—already heated to the proper temperature—into a rough shape, then handed them over to the craftsmen beside the anvils for further fine refinement of their form.
Finally, the quenched weapon blanks would be conveyed along a conveyor belt to the Second Fleet Master, who would inspect the quality of the quenching before the subsequent polishing and arming could proceed.
Compared to the meticulous craftsmanship of the blacksmiths in the Old World villages, who fashioned hunter gear single-handedly...
This assembly-line-style production of gear, though the hunters often grumbled that it was all standardized and just reskinned, was what allowed this workshop—back when the Research Commission members were investigating the Elder Dragon migration and constantly facing danger—to provide them with the newest full set of weapons and armor as quickly as possible after every successful hunt.
Back when the New World transport routes had not yet been opened up.
You could say that this standardization and reskinning was, in fact, a sacrifice the workshop made in order to accomplish all of this with limited manpower and resources.
Although the New World crisis had now come to a close, and the workshop's shortage of manpower had received support from the Guild...
...still, compared to the wave of newbie hunters that had come flooding in, they were still a bit stretched thin.
And so this method of forging had been kept all along.
That said, for Elder-Dragon-class hunters, the so-called standardization and reskinning that the workshop got razzed about had long since had nothing to do with them.
As the batch of hunters who faced calamities on the level of Elder Dragons head-on, the master-grade equipment they used was, without exception, the perfect work of the craftsmen's meticulous dedication.
And as for Sapphire Star and Andrew.
Their equipment-forging commissions were generally handled personally by that Second Fleet Master.
Compared to the last time he'd come to commission a forging.
Andrew noticed that the box of beard oil he'd given had been deliberately placed by the Second Fleet Master in a conspicuous spot close at hand, as if to make sure that everyone passing by the door would see it at first glance.
But today.
This Second Fleet Master, who normally sat upright beside the conveyor belt earnestly and carefully inspecting each weapon blank, had his attention placed elsewhere.
And the material in his hands that had captured all of his attention—the one he was gripping and studying so carefully—was precisely the Ethereal material that Andrew had brought back for him.
Such was his level of concentration that he didn't even notice Andrew walk right up in front of him.
Looking at the absorbed Second Fleet Master before him, and knowing that the Sapphire Star guy would come running over before long, Andrew hastily took the initiative to speak up:
"Old man? Still studying that Ethereal material I brought back for you?"
"Hahaha, you bet I am."
Only then noticing the newcomer, a smile suddenly surfaced on the Second Fleet Master's stern face. He gave a careless, hearty nod by way of greeting before speaking with a grin:
"Never thought the world you went to, little Andrew, would have energy like this. This kind of monster material composed of pure, special energy—you won't find anything like it in the world we live in."
"It was called... Ether, was it?"
Casually setting down the material he'd been using for reference and research, the Second Fleet Master said with feeling:
"Truly unique."
"The last time I saw something similar was what got sent back from the Frontier—weapons called Noble Phantasms, composed of a special energy known as Mana."
"The two more typical templates seemed to be called Excalibur, the Sword of Promised Victory, and EA, the Sword of Rupture? The names are real tongue-twisters."
The Second Fleet Master, exclaiming offhandedly, came back to his senses and gave a light cough. Looking at the three before him, all with somewhat bewildered looks on their faces, he scratched his slick, shiny head and said:
"Ahem, I'm getting off track, off track."
Then he reached out and pointed Andrew toward the mannequin set up off to one side. The Kushala Daora armor Andrew had custom-ordered was draped over it, giving off a metallic luster under the glow of the furnace.
And this was precisely the master-grade Kushala Daora armor that the entire Second Fleet had mobilized to meticulously polish during this period.
Hoshimi Miyabi's Velkhana Tachi, meanwhile, was carefully laid across the weapon rack. Even beside the furnace, one could feel a trace of the waves of cold it emanated.
That said, Andrew's attention had now been completely captivated by his new armor, with no room left to accommodate any other existence.
New gear—this was new gear!
The steel armor cast from Kushala Daora scales—one could perceive its heft with the naked eye alone.
But for Andrew.
Compared to its so-called weight, he was more concerned with the matchless solidity contained within that heft.
Dark red lines traced out the contours of the figure upon the armor, setting off his already well-proportioned frame to make it appear even more slender, while in no way diminishing that brawny stature built from steel.
Merely standing there, it was like a fortress of steel that would forever stand firm even amid a raging storm.
"After such a long time, I suppose this counts as once again donning equipment made from Elder Dragon materials."
It wasn't that the Chainblade Dragon gear was no good.
It was just that after leaving the Forbidden Lands, with no Dragon Lantern available to supply the energy for the armor to absorb and convert, this set of armor's uniqueness was, you could say, mostly sealed away.
To call it a blank slate with excellent defense wouldn't be an overstatement.
So compared to the Kushala Daora armor—which possessed the powerful ability to ignore wind pressure and could exert its uniqueness in any environment—the Chainblade Dragon's only remaining advantage was a single word: cool.
And this was the main reason Andrew had gone and yanked an entire Kushala Daora set straight out of his own master's material stockpile.
Besides.
When it came to being cool, the Kushala Daora set was no slouch either!
However, the moment he touched this armor, the red patterns that had been purely decorative seemed to suddenly flicker once.
Andrew couldn't help but furrow his brow.
And he soon confirmed that this was not just his imagination.
Because in the very next moment, the red patterns across the entire armor were no longer flickering but, before Andrew's astonished eyes, lit up directly!
Not only that, but he also felt a marvelous fluctuation.
This fluctuation was not intense.
But as it appeared, Andrew soon felt a powerful hurricane manifest—it not only failed to dissipate but instead swirled around the hand he had on the armor, in accordance with Andrew's will.
It wasn't the wind outside blowing into the workshop—it had appeared utterly out of thin air.
And Andrew could clearly sense that this was not the limit of what he could do—rather, this much power was merely an overflow produced from a single moment's carelessness.
"This... what's going on here?"
He'd spent so many years in this Monster Hunter world and had never once heard that armor could do anything like this!
Faced with this scene, Andrew subconsciously turned his head at once toward the smiling Second Fleet Master beside him, hoping to get an answer from this craftsman.
Seeing this long-absent, utterly dumbfounded and dazed expression on Andrew's face, the Second Fleet Master finally stopped holding back his mirth and burst out laughing, his face full of smug delight.
One look made it clear he'd been scheming for this very situation all along.
"That's right, that's right. Ever since you, kid, became an elite hunter at such a young age, you've put on a mature, world-weary look every single day. I've wanted to see you like this for a long time now."
Looking at Andrew, who wore a helpless expression now that he'd caught on, the Second Fleet Master patted his shoulder and said with a smile:
"That's more like it—now this looks a bit more like a young man."
"You're only just twenty-five. Shouldering everything all by yourself without a single word, day in and day out—that's no good."
"Alright then, this Kushala Daora armor is different from the ones before. I'll have to explain it to you in detail."
Faced with Andrew's questions, the Second Fleet Master—now thoroughly satisfied after his little joke—didn't keep it hidden away but began explaining directly.
"Being able to let you control storms just like a Kushala Daora with the aid of the armor—that, right there, is the fruit of my research these past few days on those Ethereal materials."
"Although for now it still can't form a continent-destroying calamity like a real Kushala Daora, the power contained within is absolutely not to be underestimated either."
Reaching this point, the Second Fleet Master couldn't help but puff out his chest slightly with pride over his own accomplishment.
But then he changed his tone and said:
"That said, to fully bring out the upper limit of its capabilities, you'll have to be in an environment extremely abundant in Ether energy."
"In a world like ours, where Ether energy doesn't exist at all..."
Reaching this point, the Second Fleet Master shrugged, then said with a helpless look:
"Just how much you can manage, exactly, depends purely on how much Ether energy you can convert through the circuits."
Hearing this, Andrew could no longer hold back his curiosity and asked:
"Old man, how did you pull this off?"
Hearing Andrew's question, the Second Fleet Master smiled and stroked his beard. The beard, which had grown a little dry and brittle from his advancing age and from years of long exposure to high heat, had—after applying the maintenance oil—been restored to the springiness of his younger days.
The perfect feel made him unable to resist giving it another stroke before he continued with a smile:
"Remember those otherworldly weapons called Noble Phantasms I told you about before?"
"Ethereal materials, being materials composed of pure energy, aren't entirely without any reference or experience for me. Back when the Guild was researching Noble Phantasms, they distributed materials and documents to all the outstanding craftsmen."
At this point, the Second Fleet Master puffed out his chest once more.
There was no doubt that the outstanding craftsman referred to in his words was himself.
Seeing that Andrew, Hoshimi Miyabi, and the others were completely immersed in his earlier explanation, the Second Fleet Master felt a touch of regret.
But he continued explaining nonetheless:
"From that world called TYPE-MOON, there was also something called a Magic Circuit that got transmitted over along with the Noble Phantasms."
"And the Kushala Daora is, to begin with, an Elder Dragon that commands the storm."
"So I referenced the Magic Circuit and the ability called Strike Air, the Hammer of the Wind King, found on the Noble Phantasm named Excalibur, the Sword of Promised Victory. Using a Dragon Jade as the core, I improved it into the kind of circuit and structural composition that now adapts to Ether energy, and while attaching it onto the Kushala Daora armor, I made further improvements as well."
"You could say I've turned this armor into something that qualifies as a Noble Phantasm—except that its composition and the energy it consumes during operation are simply adapted to the Ether energy possessed by that world you crossed over to."
"After all, it has to adapt to the different circumstances of different worlds."
Listening to the Second Fleet Master's casual, understated explanation, Andrew couldn't help falling somewhat silent.
A mere seven days.
No, it should be less than six days—and the Second Fleet Master had already studied the Ethereal materials and Ether energy to this degree.
He had even, through practice, produced and modified a finished product.
Back when he was learning equipment forging with Gemma, she always said that although his fundamentals were decent, he was still a long way off from those truly outstanding craftsmen in the Guild.
At the time, he'd thought she was just being stubborn because she could see how extraordinarily gifted he was—but now it seemed...
He really was a long way off after all, dammit!
Compared to the Second Fleet Master, his own use of Ethereal materials could absolutely only be counted as the brute-force, "I reckon a miracle'll happen if I just hit it hard enough" approach.
"But now that you mention it, since the Guild has this kind of capability, why haven't I seen you all use it on equipment before?"
Andrew's dejection came and went quickly—after all, he'd long anticipated his own shortcomings in forging.
But he soon spotted a blind spot in the Second Fleet Master's words.
And so he immediately voiced the question.
But to his question, the Second Fleet Master merely shrugged as if it were the most natural thing, then said helplessly:
"Because this technique is just like a chicken rib—not much use at all."
"Not much use?"
Hearing this, Andrew's face filled with suspicion, his expression written all over with disbelief.
The Second Fleet Master, who immediately guessed what Andrew was thinking from his expression, shot him a displeased glare and then explained huffily:
"Kid."
"You should know, if you want to achieve the effect you just saw, you have to use the Dragon Jade—the core organ that contains an Elder Dragon's ability to manipulate the elements."
"And it has to be an Elder Dragon capable of manipulating the elements on its own!"
"The hunters who can obtain materials of this caliber are, without exception, powerful hunters capable of hunting Elder Dragons."
"And you yourself know perfectly well how effective elemental attacks of this degree are against an Elder Dragon whose elemental-manipulation calamities are enough to destroy a continent."
Reaching this point, the Second Fleet Master couldn't help letting out a sigh before continuing:
"On top of that, this kind of special energy doesn't exist in our world, so if you want to use it, you have to convert it through the circuits."
"When these circuits convert out Mana or Ether energy, what they draw upon is usually each hunter's own life energy."
"To unleash sufficiently powerful might, you need to output a great deal of life energy, and the loss of a large amount of life energy will inevitably lead to sluggish, feeble, or even distorted combat movements."
"Every single Elder Dragon hunt is a dance on the tip of a blade."
"To put a hunter into a dangerous situation for the sake of an attack with so little effect—to call that 'not worth the gains' would be giving it far too much credit."
"So once this technology had been thoroughly understood, the Guild quickly abandoned it and stopped promoting it, keeping it only in the Frontier, where—because of the spatial rifts—there is Mana overflowing into the air."
"As for everywhere else, it's been completely abandoned by now, so don't even think about it."
(Author's Note 1: This Noble Phantasm stuff isn't me, the author, just making things up—Monster Hunter Frontier really did do a collaboration with TYPE-MOON, and these very Noble Phantasms did directly become hunters' weapons as crossover gear. EA, the "curry stick" [Excalibur], and little Mordred's "dad-stabber" [Clarent] were all in there too.)
(Author's Note 2: Worth mentioning—in the Frontier collaboration, the Sword of Rupture, Ea, came packaged as a Lance, and its accompanying shield was even the Chains of Heaven [Enkidu].)
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