HideousGrain
patreon
Path to Prosperity - B1 Chapter 24
🕑 Added 2024-06-29 12:11:58 +0000 UTC“You got what you wanted. Leave now!” Erdwin cursed, gesturing to Percy to leave.
Percy wasn’t going to drag this out. He grasped the bundles of goods and grinned when several interfaces popped up. It looked like he had a lot to check out later.
“Thank you for your generosity,” Percy bowed to the merchant teasingly and rushed out of the shop.
Erdwin’s playful anger dispersed, replaced with a faint smile. He glanced at the book displaying the Archyeas’ image and sighed deeply.
“I hope this will help you.”
Percy returned to the Angel’s Brew Inn. His room wasn’t shrouded in darkness as expected, but moonlight illuminated his room faintly. That wasn’t enough, so Percy moved to a small lamp he’d purchased not too long ago. It was a second-hand mana lamp of Trash Quality, which was inferior to Low Quality and already damaged.
The mana lamp wasn’t anything special, but by infusing some mana into it, Percy could illuminate his room to read something. But today, he wasn’t going to read.
Percy unfolded the bundle of goods on his bed and smiled like a child bombarded with toys and sweets.
He didn’t buy many things, but they cost a small fortune. Still, Percy wasn’t displeased. If anything, he was over the moon.
[Set of Clothes(Hemp) – Extraordinary Quality – 23 Prosperity]
[Hill Hog Hide Boots – Extraordinary Quality – 84 Prosperity]
If these clothes tear as fast as the average linen clothes, I’ll get back to Erdwin and twist his neck!
After spending days using several sets of linen clothes of average quality, Percy invested a little bit more in durable garments. The hemp clothes should last longer. They were of better quality, and the raw material was better suited to his line of work.
At the same time, Percy hoped that the hemp clothes could either be enchanted or that he could reinforce them for protection and to ensure they would last longer.
The Hill Hog Hide Boots were a bit expensive, but Percy needed them. His old boots were about to fall apart. But that wasn’t why he purchased the boots made from Hill Hog hide. They were more expensive due to their comfortable yet highly durable material. His Ego should be able to upgrade the boots drastically.
However, the main course of today’s purchase wasn’t the set of clothes or the Hill Hog Hide Boots. The main course was the armor made of hardened leather. It had been tanned and dyed, giving the armor a rich, dark brown – almost black – color.
The armor’s main piece covered Percy’s torso. It was made from several layers of thick leather and fit perfectly, providing both protection and mobility. Moving around was a little rough at first, but Percy got quickly used to the soft leather padding on the inside of the armor. He would be perfectly fine after wearing it for a few hours or days.
The pauldrons were made of curved leather plates attached to the main piece with straps and buckles to adjust their first, whereas the forearm guards, also crafted from thick leather, were secured in place with additional straps. The forearm guards weren’t connected to the main piece, and Percy was certain Merchant Erdwin would sell them separately under normal circumstances.
[Tempered Leather Chestplate(River Boar) – Marvelous Quality – 305 Prosperity]
[Tempered Vambrace(River Boar) – Marvelous Quality – 129 Prosperity]
[Tempered Vambrace(River Boar) – Marvelous Quality – 129 Prosperity]
The Prosperity I can gain from consuming everything is almost as much as I paid.
Percy realized this only now. The goods were worth 670 Prosperity, but surprisingly, he paid only seven silver and 50 copper coins. While that was almost one silver more than the Prosperity Percy could earn, the Prosperity count of everything he purchased was usually half or lower than the coins he paid.
There were still a few things Percy didn’t understand about [Consume] and his Ego, but he comprehended enough to know that today’s purchase was a stroke of great fortune.
That is much more valuable than seven silver coins. No wonder he was angry when I used the pity card… Maybe I shouldn’t have said that he’ll be at fault if I die. That was a low blow.
Despite feeling ashamed, Percy knew it had been necessary to trick Erdwin. He needed better equipment and more money to grow stronger.
“Can I connect the forearm guards to the rest of the armor? That would make everything so much easier,” Percy murmured but proceeded with his task as if he had never said anything.
He emptied his coin pouches, revealing six silver and 21 copper, and nodded slowly as the cogs in his mind rattled.
That should be enough.
Darkness oozed from his palm as he triggered [Consume] to swallow his silver coins. It expanded quickly, revealing several rows of razor-sharp teeth before it devoured the silver, leaving 21 copper coins behind.
[Six Silver Coins have been consumed. 630 Prosperity has been added.]
Usually, Percy didn’t feel much when he used [Consume], but this time was oddly similar to the sensation spreading through him when he devoured the Gnoll’s corpse.
Is that how it feels when my Ego is pushing me closer to an uprank?
The theory had some foundation but required more testing to be proven. That was precisely what Percy did now that he’d accumulated some Prosperity.
『Percy 』
[Ego – Coin of Prosperity]
[Tier] – [Mortal-5]
—
[Empty]
『Coin of Prosperity』
Prosperity: 870
➛Consume
He spread his dagger, new clothes, armor, and boots out before him and observed them intently.
“I don’t think I can upgrade the iron dagger any further. Maybe it would work if it wasn’t Average Quality,” Percy shrugged and pocketed the iron dagger again, leaving the Hill Hog Hide Boots, the hemp clothes, and the River Boar leather armor.
Before checking out the hemp clothes ' interface, he used [Consume] on Prosperity first.
Set of Clothes(Hemp)
Extraordinary Quality
23 Prosperity
“No crossed-out words… Nothing, really?” Percy had expected that scenario, yet not really. He’d tested infusing the silverish-golden threads that appeared whenever he used [Consume] on Prosperity with the interfaces to change them, so he wasn’t shocked to the core when he saw no significant changes in the interface. His leather pouches, bags, and other ordinary goods revealed no crossed-out words.
Percy had theorized that their quality was too bad to add any runic enchantments.
But that didn’t seem to be the case. The hemp clothes were of Extraordinary Quality. He immediately switched over to the other interfaces, fusing some silverish-golden threads with their interfaces.
Hill Hog Hide Boots
Extraordinary Quality
84 Prosperity
~[Tough Hide] ~
–
Tempered Vambrace(River Boar)
Marvelous Quality
129 Prosperity
~[Guard]~, ~[Reinforce]~
–
Tempered Vambrace(River Boar)
Marvelous Quality
129 Prosperity
~[Guard]~, ~[Reinforce]~
–
Tempered Leather Chestplate(River Boar)
Marvelous Quality
305 Prosperity
~[Mana Repair]~, ~[Reinforce]~, ~[Tough Hide]~
The sight unfolding before him was fascinating. While several silverish-golden threads fused with the interface to change something, some threads remained as they were.
First of all, not all threads transform into potential enchantments. That doesn’t mean I cannot use them to upgrade something, but it probably indicates that nothing significant will change when I reach the limit of that particular ‘path’. The other threads have a specific end: the runic enchantments.
Percy tilted his head and continued analyzing the information at his disposal.
So… is a combination of material and quality determining whether I can add runic enchantments? Or is the form of the item also important? That might influence the type of runic enchantment I can apply to the item, but it shouldn’t determine whether I can add runic enchantments or not.
Then again, it’s odd that the iron dagger showed me two runic enchantments but blocked my attempts at investing more Prosperity into them. Maybe the material determines if I can make enchantments in the first place, and the finished product’s quality is one of the most critical factors in deciding how many runic enchantments I can add. Or how important the runic enchantments can be.
Percy had often been in Erdwin’s shop to study his Common Artifacts since he first visited the merchant. None of them had multiple enchantments. However, Percy realized that more refined weapons and armor pieces usually had runic enchantment with more potent effects.
He understood that he was getting somewhere and grinned foolishly before moving on. [Consume] on Prosperity applied jumped into effect.
[Tempered Leather Chestplate’s material has been reinforced. 99 Prosperity has been deducted.]
Percy infused as much Prosperity into the [Tough Hide] option before he sensed a bottleneck. The changes in the leather chestplate were subtle but still noticeable. The dark-brown color was barely visible. Instead, the chestplate was black now.
He nodded slowly and repeated the process twice with [Mana Repair] and [Reinforce]
[Tempered Leather Chestplate’s durability has been enhanced. 99 Prosperity has been deducted.]
[Tempered Leather Chestplate’s mana conductivity has been reinforced. 99 Prosperity has been deducted.]
Percy sensed a bottleneck before the 100th Prosperity was infused each time. He could instinctively tell [Reinforce] and [Tough Hide] were different from [Mana Repair]. It was possible to proceed infusing more Prosperity into [Reinforce] and [Tough Hide] and reach the end of the path, whereas the same didn’t apply to [Mana Repair].
He wasn’t blocked from investing more Prosperity into [Mana Repair], which was the case with either of the iron dagger’s enchantments. Still, the chestplate’s mana conductivity wouldn’t be further improved even if he were to spend his remaining 483 Prosperity on it.
Even though Percy was very curious about the [Mana Repair] enchantment, he was too impatient. He was more interested in whether it was possible to engrave an enchantment on his armaments using his Ego or if it would fail.. Until now, Percy had only been theorizing. It was about time to prove the theory!
Percy used [Consume] on Prosperity again.
[Tempered Leather Chestplate’s durability has been enhanced. 401 Prosperity has been deducted.]
[Durability reached its limit. [Reinforce] is overflowing with Prosperity.
[Reinforce] will be interwoven into the essence of the Tempered Leather Chestplate.]
The interface revealed more words than usual. He was curious about some terms and could come up with more theories, which may help him study his Ego in-depth, but his attention remained on the Tempered Leather Chestplate, its insides to be precise. Dozens of azure-colored threads poured out of the tempered leather, wiggling around seemingly without a plan.
That changed when the interface of the Tempered Leather Chestplate changed, removing the line covering [Reinforce].
Tempered Leather Chestplate(River Boar)
Marvelous Quality
713 Prosperity
~[Mana Repair]~, [Reinforce], ~[Tough Hide]~
The threads felt like mana. Closing his eyes, Percy could perceive mana flow around and within the Tempered Leather Chestplate, and he shuddered involuntarily. He wasn’t the best at sensing his surrounding mana just yet, but the mana threads were on a different level compared to the mana particles in the air. They were pure and condoned…and engraved themselves into the leather chestplate.
The mana threads, interwoven into the Tempered Leather Chestplate, etched a circle inside the armor before continuing engraving a flawless symbol – a simple image depicting an armor – inside it.
Percy could perceive all of that with his eyes closed. It surprised him but he wasn’t terrified. If anything, Percy was exhilarated.
“I knew it!” He exclaimed, clenching his fists tightly. His hair stood up to its end as he excitedly eyed the runic enchantment.
Percy did not only acquire his first artifact today. He created it!
Even though Erdwin did his utmost to dissuade him from purchasing a ordinary – though well-crafted – leather armor, Percy did it nonetheless. Erdwin’s reasoning made sense. A low-ranked Artifact would be better than the Tempered Leather Armor even if made from the River Boar's hide. A runic enchantment could be a deciding factor between life and death.
Percy understood that point very well. However, the Tempered Leather Chestplate was made with excellent material by a master of his – or her – work. Most Common Artifacts within his budget were unlikely to be better than the Tempered Leather Chestplate. Even if one of the Common Artifacts had an enchantment that pushed its defense to a higher level once activated, Percy was unwilling to give up on the Tempered Leather Chestplate.
Rightfully so.
Percy proved his point, even if it was only to himself. And, of course, he had spent almost 700 Prosperity – equivalent to 700 copper coins – on the Tempered Leather Chestplate, but the armor was not what it used to be.
The material had been reinforced, its mana conductivity was enhanced, and it gained a runic enchantment.
It was so much more than the ordinary piece or armor it used to be.
It was an Artifact!
For how much can I sell this?
