"Difficulty should be pretty high, right?" Kirito's question was worth considering. Creating a weapon with attributes comparable to the Magic Sword was no ordinary challenge.
"Mm..." Lisbeth rested her chin in her hand and thought for a while before speaking.
"It is indeed somewhat difficult, but not because of the forging. It's the materials."
Exactly. The difficult part was figuring out what materials could be used to create a weapon that could barely keep up with the Elucidator's attributes.
Or rather, there simply weren't many materials capable of producing a weapon comparable to the Magic Sword. What was more, the materials available at this stage could very likely be phased out later on. Thus, Lisbeth didn't really recommend that Kirito forge a weapon right now. With the Elucidator's attributes, he could completely manage to fight his way past the seventieth floor before replacing it.
In the end, it was still an environmental issue. The environment on the lower floors was far inferior to that on the higher floors, and equipment became obsolete much faster. Only equipment at the Magic Sword's level could completely overwhelm gear of the same level in terms of attributes. But later on, especially after the seventieth floor, that advantage would gradually diminish. At that point, a Magic Sword dropped on the fiftieth floor might still have some room to shine, but a forged weapon would not. The strength of a forged weapon depended on its materials. Weapons made with materials from the fiftieth floor would mostly be rendered obsolete once they reached the seventieth floor or higher.
There was one exception: Kirito could reinforce the weapon he forged all the way to +40. Without a doubt, that was exactly what Kirito intended.
"As for the materials, please don't worry, shopkeeper Lisbeth. We've already prepared plenty. We