HideousGrain
patreon
Path to Prosperity - B2 Chapter 34
🕑 Added 2024-09-05 10:00:06 +0000 UTCPercy had two valuable runic rings to display as his main attractions. One Silvron Ring with [Enhanced Senses] and the Yvelton Ring with [Energy Shield]. The latter was more valuable and could probably be sold for a decent fortune. But even if they were valuable, an Elite Weapon Artifact was probably an even better attraction.
He cast a glance at his Silvron Sword but shook his head.
I’m not going to sell my only weapon. If anything, I need to buy new weapons to equip the Gnoll Warrior. I need something else to display.
Percy left the shop and searched for a more renowned smithy closer to the capital’s core district, where he purchased a Tiagro Sword for 81 silver coins. He negotiated a little and only agreed to 81 silver when the blacksmith was about to throw him out.
I will never buy anything from you again, okay?! Bert will surpass you easily, asshat!
The blacksmith’s attitude annoyed him, but his anger dissipated when he returned to the shop. It was time to create his main attraction.
[Seven Gold Coins have been consumed. 77,000 Prosperity has been added.]
[Tiagro Sword’s mana conductivity has been enhanced. 75,000 Prosperity has been deducted.]
[Mana Conductivity reached its limit. [Mana Slash] is overflowing with Prosperity.
[Mana Slash] will be interwoven into the essence of the Tiagro Sword.]
Percy inspected the weapon intently and sighed deeply. It might be nice that he did not have to pay as many Prosperity points to engrave [Mana Slash] into the Tiagro Sword like last time, but the potency disparity was as clear as day and night. Still, Percy was satisfied with the enchantment.
In the first place, it was great that he could enchant [Mana Slash] on a Tiagro Sword of lower quality.
I can sell this one for 25 gold coins, right? But wait. Now that I think about it again…Melissa and her father tricked me! They didn’t pay me enough for the Tiagro Sword and the Yvelton Sword!
A sigh escaped his lips. He knew the situation was different at that time and that the weapons didn’t belong to him. Not truly, at least. He’d plundered them from the battlefield in the Wintermoon Estate. Nonetheless, it was frustrating how quickly his funds decreased. It was almost like someone poked a hole into his wallet.
I have 11 gold coins, a bunch of silver, and pouches filled with copper. That should last me two months if I don’t earn anything. But I won’t let it get that far. I won’t fail to be a businessman!
Percy fell deep in thought, trying to devise a few plans to make a fortune with the Dragon Lair shop, and started displaying the Artifacts, Ego-enhanced potions, and his main attraction. The Tiagro Sword, Yvelton Ring, and Silvron Ring were highlighted in the windows for everyone to see, whereas the rest were neatly placed on the shelves and stands.
Percy was so deep in thought, busy with various thoughts flashing through his mind that he missed the entrance of a young woman who entered the Dragon Lair shop with two men.
He turned to them only after their voices rang through the shop.
“What are we doing here? This shop has been closed for months,” One of the men grumbled, but the young woman pointed at the displayed goods as if that answered enough.
“Maybe the shop will open again soon… I don’t know,” He grumbled in response.
They’re Gifted, but only weakly. Either they haven’t been out in the Wilderness often, or their affinity isn’t high. Maybe they haven’t found out their most suited affinity yet. But they sure look beaten up.
The Gifted were clearly Adventurers, but they were covered in bruises and shallow cuts. Neither of the three Gifted was seriously injured if one excluded their equipment, of course. Their leather armor was torn in several places and was only attached to threads in some places. They didn’t possess any Artifacts either. That attracted Percy’s curiosity.
“Wilderness?” Percy asked calmly when the three Adventurers noticed him. The young woman nodded slowly but didn’t say anything else.
Bronze Rank Adventurers must be common in the capital. They look sleep-deprived and more or less skinny. I'm not as skinny as I’ve been in the past, but that’s not the point.
Percy tilted his head. The Adventurers were probably struggling to earn enough to cover their living expenses while accumulating enough coins to repair their equipment, let alone upgrade it.
“Artifacts made from iron? That is possible?” The young woman exclaimed when her eyes locked onto the Iron Artifacts.
“I don’t think so. I mean, you can turn everything into Artifacts, but not all materials are stable enough to contain runic enchantments without breaking apart. Iron is too unstable, or so I’ve heard. Nobody creates Iron Artifacts because the runic enchantments will break them apart from the inside after a few uses,” The skinny man next to the young woman explained before turning to Percy.
He didn’t doubt his intel. Instead, the skinny Gifted concluded that Percy was a fraud.
Percy noticed the anger in the man’s eyes and smiled lightly as he approached them.
“Iron is only stable enough to contain runic enchantments as long as it has been treated well. You have to refine it perfectly and push it to near-perfect quality to transform it into an Artifact. Of course, the material stability is important, but so is the choice of runic enchantment. You cannot engrave highly potent runic enchantments on Iron. Otherwise, the runic enchantment will destroy the material from the inside. That much is true,” He gave the skinny Gifted a thumbs up while retrieving one of the Iron Daggers with the [Sharpness] enchantment.
“Many runic enchantments can be engraved at different levels. The [Sharpness] enchantment on the Iron Dagger, for example, has been engraved with a much lower potency level as…this dagger,” Percy retrieved another dagger from the shelves with a smile.
One of the Iron Daggers was of Perfect Quality, while the other one reached Marvelous Quality. Both had been enchanted with the same [Sharpness] enchantment, but the Perfect Quality dagger could handle more strain without sustaining any damage. Therefore, [Sharpness]’s potency level on the perfect quality dagger was higher
“That’s also why most Artifacts are expensive. Engravers cannot be bothered working on cheap materials because it is not worth the effort to engrave ‘weaker’ enchanting on them. Of course, enchantments of lower potency cost less mana to trigger and maintain, but Engravers do not care. Most of them care only about their wallets.” Percy shrugged while activating [Sharpness] on both Iron Daggers.
Both daggers started humming simultaneously before a whitish-silver glow mantled them. One of the daggers glowed brighter than the other.
He stopped inserting mana into the enchantments and handed them to the young woman. Her eyes were glued on the daggers when he showed them how his Artifacts worked and her hands started trembling when she grasped the daggers.
“Don’t be shy and give it a try. The potency of the runic enchantments has been adjusted to perfection to avoid straining the weapon. You can use the runic enchantments hundreds of times, and you won’t even notice a scratch on the daggers. As long as you don’t fight River Boars or the like with a Mortal Artifact, but that much should be given. Oh and…I wouldn’t try cutting through walls with the daggers, either. They don’t have the right enchantment to do so,” Percy teased the group of Gifted, but they weren’t listening.
Their attention lingered on the iron daggers.
The skinny Gifted observed his friend as she activated the [Sharpness] enchantment on both daggers until her mana ran out. He reached for one of the daggers while his other friend grasped the other one to drain his mana by activating [Sharpness] several times.
The skinny Gifted’s anger transformed into doubt, which was then replaced by curiosity.
“The perfect dagger is set to be sold for 25 silver coins. As Adventurers, you should know how cheap that is for an Artifact of this quality. Considering your equipment, you’ll have to replace most,” Percy shrugged as he didn’t want to force the Gifted to purchase anything, “But you should know that Artifacts can not only help you out of tricky situations, but they’re also invaluable to increase your combat prowess.”
At the end of the day, Percy chose to multiply the cost of Ego-enhancing the Iron Artifacts by three to make some profit. Engraving [Sharpness] on the perfect dagger cost 700, which is why Percy had considered asking for 21 silver coins. But since the initial Prosperity points of the perfect Iron dagger had been close to 300 and he had other costs to cover, such as the building lease and Bert, Percy increased the price of the perfect dagger to 25 silver coins.
That was still cheap compared to the Mortal Artifacts he’d found in the capital’s shops, but Percy was in no need to compare his prices to others. He didn’t have a high demand yet and had to keep his price low to attract more attention.
“What if you’re lying to us, and the Artifacts will shatter once we leave?” The skinny Gifted asked, but there was no confidence in his voice.
On the contrary, he doubted his words.
“I told you to test the enchantments as much as you like. Feel the runic enchantments and tell me whether I am lying to you or not.”
The daggers were still fine, not the slightest crack could be found around the runic enchantments, even after the three Gifted used up their mana reserves. The daggers were perfectly fine Artifacts.
“What do you say?” The woman asked the others, “We have 50 silver saved up.”
Her eyes glimmered, but the skinny Gifted remained silent, while the other shook his head.
“We can’t.” He said, “We’re saving up for proper Artifacts. Did you forget about that?”
“But those are proper Artifacts!” She exclaimed, pointing at the daggers.
“They’re weaker than the Artifacts we plan to buy, and you know that.”
“But they’re also cheaper!” The girl was getting irritated, “Our strength will increase with an Artifact like that. Don’t be narrow-minded, and look at it my way, please! We can buy two Artifacts like this dagger if we use our savings today. With two Artifacts, it won’t be a problem to hunt even stronger monsters than today, or we go back to hunting weaker monsters and eliminate more of them.”
The skinny Gifted nodded slowly, “Where else can we buy two Artifacts for 50 silver coins? Most Artifacts in the capital start at 70 silver, and their quality deteriorates quickly. Proper Artifacts with slowly deteriorating enchantment start at more than 120 silver coins. Their overall power is greater than the Iron Artifacts, but those Iron Artifacts can change everything for us…”
Percy learned a lot from the Adventurers’ exchange, and a faint smile crept up on his lips.
He cleared his throat, pulling the Gifted’s attention to him.
“How about we do this?”
