The Perfect Combo

Hyahaa! It's hunting time!

So yeah, wiped out an orc village and got a ton of orc meat.

The new equipment Penpen made, the Knife Boots, worked perfectly.

Boots with a folding knife attached to the instep — deploying the knife before combat adds slashing damage to Tria's kicks.

She'd also subtly incorporated Baby Turtle shells to reinforce them like safety boots. Light and sturdy — gotta love Baby Turtle materials!

Incidentally, kicks had become her main attack method. With all the enhancements, her kicks packed a serious punch.

For her hands, she mainly equipped gauntlets that doubled as shields. They too were Baby Turtle gear and also made by Penpen.

I had to hand it to Penpen, making high-performance equipment while looking like some country farm girl.

"Tria! How were the boots?"

"Perfect, just perfect. Sliced through orc throats left and right and wiped them all out."

"Nice! Then leave item collection to me!"

Swapping with Penpen who'd been waiting. We'd become a great combo.

Combat exp and battle rewards go to me, materials go to Penpen who makes equipment and items.

Penpen got production exp from dismantling and crafting, could sell surplus gear, and raked in money. Plus we'd both reached D-rank.

"By the way Penpen, how's debt repayment going?"

"Oh. I've already paid back half ahead of schedule."

"Seriously? That's fast."

"Games make it easy to repay debt. Though it's partly thanks to you, Tria. You bring me so many materials that I can craft tons and earn tons!"

Win-win for both of us. This is what combo play should be. Teaming up with a production class is so convenient!

Hmm, smooth sailing!

I chatted while doing muscle training next to Penpen as she dismantled orcs.

She'd been doing muscle training while I was orc hunting, by the way. I'd taught her that it raises parameters.

"Speaking of which, do you check the wiki, Penpen? It's chaotic but pretty interesting."

"Hmm, I don't. I like to do everything myself first before looking."

"I see. Well, just so you know — the story is unique to each player, and the game systems seem to differ based on your story."

"Whaaaat. I kind of sensed it was different from yours, Tria, but… it's actually different?"

"Seems like it. Penpen, what are combat scenes like for you?"

"Command-based turn battles, right? A common minigame."

Oh, so hers is RPG-style. At least that part.

"For me, that's the main part — real-time input for rolling, jumping, attacking, and all that."

"What's that about? That's totally different. So that's how you can wipe out an orc village instantly."

"Well, Tria-chan's parameters are combat-specialized. Easy mode."

"Mine are still just production parameters going up. Oh, but the muscle training you taught me is working, so I won't lose to random NPC townspeople anymore. Plus I have attack magic."

… Thanks to Penpen, my equipment is much better and my level went up a bit.

Maybe it's time to go kill that Great Turtle? At least that's what I started thinking, but I was waiting to meet up with my coworker first.

My coworker was traveling through various towns on the way to Tsudon. With their ranged attacks and gun, having them along would give us a big advantage against that turtle.

Penpen was still production-specialized, so she didn't count as fighting strength. I wouldn't bring her along for that.

If I carelessly brought her and she got caught up in it and died, it'd be disastrous. She was doing muscle training, but that wasn't enough to make her combat-ready.

Yes, even if she had attack magic—

"… Hm? Wait a sec. Did you just say attack magic?"

"I did?"

"… You have attack magic?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Show me."

"I can only use it during combat. I can use support magic though."

Tch! One of those systems where you can only use attack magic in battle! Classic RPG stuff!

But yeah, of course. Magic. I'd totally forgotten since Tria-chan was all physical, but magic obviously exists in this world. There were elves too. Elves are great.

"So where can you learn attack magic!? Tell me, Penpen!"

"Huh, I just learned Fireball when I leveled up."

"Seriously? Is it tied to intelligence? Maybe I over-specialized in martial arts…"

"Well, you did charge at a turtle with high physical defense using physical attacks. That's kind of on you."

"Mmgh. Wonder if there's a learnable skill in the SP list… But SP is still precious… But magic…!"

Just then, a friend chat from my coworker came in.

"I'm gathering info and heading to Tsudon, but might take 2 more days yo."

"Got it, I'll wait… Hang on, you can't get there in one day? Isn't this world way too big?"

"It is yo, crazy yo. Stagecoach accidents and stuff too… Oh, I hunted a Lesser Dragon on the way, so I'll bring it as a gift yo."

"Oh, I'll let Penpen know. Should make good equipment."

"Tch! This Penpen person… I invited you first yo! This is NTR yo!"

"What's that supposed to mean? Oh right, Penpen's equipment keeps getting better, you know?"

"So frustrating! But I want her to make me some too yo!!"

"Okay, I'll ask her."

"Estimated arrival is morning of the next day off yo!! Please yo!!"

So I told Penpen I'd like her to make some equipment for my coworker too, and I'd pay for it. Penpen happily agreed.

I could already picture her going "Hyahaa, Lesser Dragon materials!"