A Certain Middle-aged Man’s VRMMO Activity Log

That day it started with one statement.

Lately havent the number of people taking [Cooking] increased? Id like to learn some dishes myself, but you gotta pay to get Recipes, right?

That was Noras one statement.

Reiji and Nora, who came to buy food from me, let that statement out while stuffing their cheeks.

I put on a stern expression.

Aaa~ buying Recipes is just about impossible, they arent really sold.

The reason is kinda long. This isnt just my policy, its how all the crafters have been dealing with it.

That was my explanation, but

Now Im interested. Mind going into the details?

Reiji said, curious.

Since it really IS a long explanation I gave them White-Peach flavored Potion Juice before I began.

Theres an unspoken agreement among the current Crafting Skill players about not selling Recipes.

There are two reasons for it, and the first is a story about the money involved.

The time and money to develop one Recipe is pretty hefty.

As an example, lets say a Recipe is a completed 50 piece Jigsaw puzzle.

Since thats the kind of process it is, a LOT of funding is absolutely necessary to find the correct 50 pieces.

This is the same for all Crafting Skills.

Even Ive sunk a lot of money into creating new dishes, but if it werent for this long explanation of mine no one would be able to tell.

Also, in regards to profit, Horned Rabbit with Water Herbs is terrific, but since the meat is tough you need Salt at 10Glow, Mixed Spice at 20Glow, Herb at 10Glow; it takes at least this much money.

In addition if its not a 7 or higher quality and its not cheap, theres no way you can rake in the sales.

Right now I can gather Herbs to cover what I make, but for the times when the demand is too much I have to buy it from the NPC.

The net profit Im making at this point is reduced to about 60Glow for every new dish I come up with, and even the profit disappears into further research and development for improvements.

If you want to make money, just going hunting is much more profitable.

The only way I could afford the Werewolf Leather Set I have equipped now was to stop spending money on Recipe research until I somehow got 86,000Glow.

Now, this down-and-dirty behind the scenes coverage of the reason why Recipes arent being sold had two parts. This second one is much deeper.

Theres a huge possibility that theres a hidden stat to go along with Crafting Skill Level.

This isnt just my belief. When a large group of Crafters came together to discuss Recipes, I heard a story about a Weaponsmith.

That Weaponsmith was pretty skilled. The Great Swords he sold were consistently an 8 in Quality.

The world of Quality difference is cruel.

Lets say a Quality 5 Great Sword has an attack power of 100.

At Quality 6 its 110, at Quality 7 it jumps to 130.

There was a player who saw his thriving business.

That player thought that if he could get his hands on that Great Sword Recipe, there was easy money to be made.

So, with a large amount of money he bought the Recipe from the Weaponsmith.

After that he gathered all the materials required and hammered iron like mad, mass-producing Great Swords according to the Recipe

Of course his [Weaponsmithing] level skyrocketed in no time.

Now then, if they were Quality 7 or 8 Great Swords there wouldnt be a problem.

Instead, it didnt matter how many swords he made or how much his skill level increased;

no matter how much he hammered away, he never got anything other than Quality 5 Great Swords.

That player was convinced that the Weaponsmith cheated him with a fake Recipe.

It seems he stormed in and demanded that his money be returned.

It became a huge fight and, seeing no end to it, they decided that the Weaponsmith who developed the Recipe would make it according the Recipe he had written while in front of several Crafter witnesses.

In front of both the witnesses and the player who had bought the Recipe, he made one Great Sword.

Immediately after he finished, the Great Sword was handed over to the witnesses.

This was to ensure that the sword the Weaponsmith made wasnt switched for another.

The result was a Great Sword with a Quality of a stunning value of 9.

From these results, as far as Crafting Skill level is concerned it only lets you make the item.

To improve the Quality theres gotta be a hidden stat

That was the rumor that was quickly spread.

More importantly, this suggests that theres more than one way to make something.

As more people take [Cooking] there may be more and more players who will make Horned Rabbit meat dishes, but with stuffed cabbage, soup, grilled skewers, stewed dishes there are actually tons of variations to try.

They may take different flavors, they may take different forms, but all of them are products that have been perfected.

In the game, actually theres not just 1 possibility for a Recipe.

For weapons, for armor, there are many different ways to make them, and all of those ways are correct.

Its definitely a tough task to find 50 pieces that fit together from 10,000.

Cause theres a ton of right answers

So, going back to that Weaponsmiths story and that Great Sword he made, another weaponsmiths forging method and Recipe are, for the most part, different.

Even if the materials used are the same, there are many ways to make something, and all the ways are different.

And all the ways are correct, see?

However you look at it, between finished items of the same Quality, neither is inferior.

All the Crafters who had gathered decided that this was, without a doubt, how things worked.

They concluded that a Recipe is the crystallization of a persons hard work and ingenuity.

When imitating that persons Recipe, its impossible to reach the originals Quality.

For that reason, selling a Recipe to someone could actually prevent their growth as Crafter.

To avoid that, it was decided not to sell Recipes.

This explanation and the one on the Info Site is long, but thereve been people who dont believe us and try to call us out, saying, Crafters are making this up to keep others out of the profits.

So, with that really long explanation, thats why I dont teach other people my Recipes.

Ill teach the basics, though. From there its best if you go and work your own puzzle to completion.

And now that the explanation is over, the two who were listening while drinking Potion Juice

Hee so there was a story like that, huh~ so that Info Sites article wasnt just a bunch of people trying to monopolize the Recipes.

Thats what Nora muttered absentmindedly.

Weell, it cant be helped that you took it that way but the truth is the truth, ya know?

Theres always people who dont believe the truth even in real life.

Well, I dont want to bring real life into the game world.

With just age as a factor theres a lot of things you cant do, things impossible for you and things decided for you, for example.

Thats not really fun, and a little sad, right?

Try it just to try it, if it doesnt work then look around for another way.

Thats the way I like to game.

Theres no Skill Writeup in this extra.

This is the feel of how this worlds Crafting and Recipes work.