Chapter 98
“A skill that permanently improves the performance of an item, I’ve never heard of it.”
Jishuka’s eyes gleamed with curiosity and excitement. She was hoping that I would tell her what I did.
‘She won’t be able to sleep well tonight if she doesn’t know.’
I didn’t have any reason to keep it a secret, but above all, I wasn’t the type of man to make a woman have a sleepless night over this. And thus, I described the process.
“The appraisal skill—my appraisal skill—can discover hidden features in items.”
There was more turmoil after my words.
“It’s just an appraisal skill? I really can’t believe it.”
“I didn’t even know that items even had hidden features. Really amazing…”
“If Grid appraises my sword, will it improve its performance like that of the axes?”
The guild members were amazed when they heard my words. It was very fresh and fun that the top rankers were shaking over someone lower than level 100.
‘Even if they are top rankers, they have never met a legendary class before.’
I was the only legendary class right now! I was feeling a rare sense of superiority when Jishuka asked me the core question, “Do hidden features exist in all items?”
I shook my head and said, “No. Items with hidden features are extremely rare. But who knows? There might be hidden features in the equipment you are wearing right now.”
“Does that mean you can appraise all our items?”
Jishuka couldn’t hide her anticipation, as her cheeks flushed slightly when she asked. I was excited because her sexy image became more prominent.
‘Kuk! I won’t! I don’t know what will happen if I lose my heart to a woman again!’
Women were enemies. Women were enemies. Women were enemies…
I hypnotized myself many times, and was barely able to calm down before nodding to Jishuka and saying,
“Of course I can appraise them. That is, if there is money.”
At the same time, the guild members cried out,
“Please appraise my equipment!”
“Me too!”
The guild members wished to upgrade their items like Vantner’s weapons. None of them asked how much the cost of the appraisal was.
‘Does that mean it doesn’t matter? Indeed, rankers are really rich!’
I had to set an appraisal price. I considered the price of the highest rated appraisal item, the Eye of Pallalian.
‘It was around 14-15 Gold?’
The Eye of Pallalian appraised items of all ratings. The appraisal item I used on Pagma’s Rare Book was the Eye of Pallalian. But even the Eye of Pallalian couldn’t find hidden features in items. In other words, my appraisal skill was at a higher level than the Eye of Pallalian. This told me that the value of my appraisal skill was more than the Eye of Pallalian.
‘Should each appraisal be 30 gold? No, is that too expensive?’
30 gold was around 36,000 won. It was almost the price of two chickens.
In addition, there were no penalties no matter how much I used the appraisal skill. No specific materials were needed and it didn’t consume mana, so it could be used infinitely. In addition, the amount of time spent appraising one item was less than a minute. If I asked for 30 gold per item, would it seem like too much?
‘It is vague when it comes to money…’
I understood why the blacksmiths were forced to make the concept of repair tools.
‘It would be good to commemorate becoming a guild member…’
Did I have to give them free appraisals? Have I changed?
‘I don’t plan to be a philanthropist.’
If money was available to be eaten, I needed to grasp the chance! I spent nearly two million won the day that I met Ahyoung on clothes, a haircut and our meal, so I needed to make back the damages somehow.
“One appraisal is 30 gold! I will appraise any item for 30 gold! If a hidden feature is found, you have to pay me an extra 300 gold!”
I didn’t think it was expensive but so what? Could a person truly call it expensive? The value of an item would rise exponentially if a hidden feature was found. In fact, Vantner’s axes would’ve risen at least a few thousand gold. From a positive point of view, paying 30 gold for an appraisal wasn’t a loss. The guild members were more aware of this than I was.
“30 gold for appraisal… If a hidden feature is found then it is 300 gold? Isn’t this pretty cheap? Okay! Please appraise all my equipment!”
They lined up in front of me. They looked like a queue of money in my eyes.
‘If I get 10 appraisal requests per person, I will receive 4,500 gold from 15 people… There is also the bonus if a hidden feature is found…!’
4,500 gold was around 5.4 million won. I could earn two months worth of salary in an instant, so tears of joy flowed down.
‘Ah! I’m so happy!’
The heart that was hurt by Ahyoung felt warm. Satisfy was truly a haven for me. On the other hand, the guild members talked to each other as they stood in line for the appraisal.
“Isn’t this like the lottery?”
“Kahahahat! I brought over all of my items from my warehouse! Don’t the odds of winning go up if there are more items to be appraised?”
“Oh, that is a good idea? I will take out all my equipment in the warehouse as well!”
Suddenly, the guild members called the discovery of a hidden feature ‘winning.’
‘Winning… I like it.’
I felt like a lottery ticket seller! Now, let’s start the appraisal business! Ah, before that…
“Khan, how much should Vantner pay for the repair of his axes?”
“It should be at least 20 gold considering the repair tools and the time it took to complete.”
“How much are the repair tools?”
“… 50 silver.”
“…”
I declared to the guild members standing in line.
“When you leave an item for appraisal, let me repair it! I will neatly repair any item! Didn’t you see me repair Vantner’s axes?”
Thus, I started an appraisal and repair business for the guild members. I watched the tide of gold entering my inventory.
‘This is a more efficient way of making money than producing items.’
Of course, making items were better because I could get permanent stats and reputation. There would also be a jackpot if I made an item higher than the unique rating. Thus, the appraisals and repairs would remain as a side business.
***
“The guild warehouse has a lot of mithril ores… Let’s see ~ Tipan wood and griffin’s tendons…”
Pon and Regas were at the auction house to find the materials for the Gale Spear. Regas suggested to Pon who was looking for the necessary materials.
“Pon, no matter how good Grid is, isn’t it hard to make an epic item in one go? I think it is better to secure enough materials to make five spears.”
Pon agreed.
“The probability that an advanced blacksmith will make epic rated items is one-tenth… I would like to gather the materials to make 10 spears, but the Tipan wood and griffin tendons are too expensive. In fact, I only have enough money to buy materials to make three spears. Sigh. I would appreciate it if any of the three spears has an epic rating… Well, it can’t be helped even if all three are rare rated. I have to remember this.”
“Yes. Now that Grid is part of our family, we can request it at any time. So don’t fret about it. Still, it is a pity. If I had money, I would pay for the materials cost…”
“Ah ~~~ don’t worry, don’t worry. How many times do I have to tell you to throw away your habit of easily giving money to people? By the way, the griffin tendons registered at the auction house are really expensive. Would it be cheaper to find a direct seller?”
“Let’s look together.”
Pon and Regas left the auction house. Then they starting touring the market area to see if there were any merchants selling griffin tendons. Unfortunately, griffin tendons were a precious material so they were difficult to find.
“Winston is now a big city, but it is still hard to find…” Pon suddenly stopped talking. He found a bunch of users wearing a golden mace guild mark and became vigilant. “Why are people from the Giant Guild here?”
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the Giant Guild was currently the largest guild of Satisfy. There were over 500 people with an average level of 130. More than anything else, the guild master was the 3rd ranked Chris.
“Wasn’t Chris appointed as the lord of Pedro not long ago? Why are these guys in Winston instead of Pedro?”
“Yes. Pedro is to the south, completely opposite of here…”
The always smiling Regas was nervous for a change. The Giant Guild was the biggest enemy of the Tzedakah Guild: they had been fighting ever since the days of L.T.S!
“The fact that they came to Winston when it is known we are staying here… They must have ulterior motives. For now, it would be best to avoid them.”
The Giant Guild wasn’t a threat to the Tzedakah Guild in L.T.S. But the situation was different in Satisfy. The Giant Guild started Satisfy as soon as it opened, while the Tzedakah Guild only joined nine months after Satisfy started. The difference in growth hadn’t been narrowed yet, so the Tzedakah Guild had been avoiding clashes with the Giant Guild.
In the end, Pon returned to the auction house without looking through the market any further. He was forced to cry as he bought the griffin tendons.
“Those people from the Giant Guild made my gold disappear.”
Pon complained with a grouchy face. But he imagined the result of the Gale Spear that Grid would make for him and felt better.
And after a while. Pon and Regas were stunned as they arrived back at Khan’s smithy.
“Yes! I wonnnnnnnn!!!”
“Wow, amazing! This is the third winner!”
“… What are you doing?”
The guild members were surrounding Grid and making a fuss. Pon and Regas wondered what was going on.
Grid was looking at the items piled up in front of him one by one. “Um… This is a loss! This is a loss as well! Another loss! Loss! Loss!”
“…”
Grid cried out every time he looked at an item.
Pon and Regas had no idea what Grid was doing, so they asked someone for an explanation. Vantner showed them his transformed axes. Pon and Regas’ eyes widened.
“W-What is this? A bug? Is this a bug?”
Vantner spoke in a patronizing manner.
“Huhuhut… Grid has an appraisal skill that can discover the hidden features in items. Items with hidden features will have their performance greatly improved, like my axes. That’s right. This. My weapons. Kukukuk… Kuahahat! How is it, Pon? Are you jealous?”
“Kuk!”
Pon wanted Grid to make his Gale Spear as soon as possible, but before that!
“Please appraise all my equipment!”
Pon gave all of his equipment to Grid. Unfortunately, the results were all failures. On this day, Grid appraised close to 300 items for the Tzedakah members, yet only three had hidden features, including Vantner’s axes.
However, the guild members were still very positive. The three winners were stronger than before, causing the overall power of the guild to rise.
‘Joining the guild and increasing the guild’s power in only half a day… He really is the person we have been looking for.’
‘All that hard work finding Grid was rewarded.’
And Grid made a revenue of approximately 10,000 gold in a short amount of time. It was a big sum of over 10 million won in cash.
‘I earned 40 million yesterday and then today… If I keep earning like this, I will soon pay off the debt.’
The debt wasn’t a problem. It seemed like he could soon be a rich man. It wasn’t just money that Grid got from repairing and appraising the items. He increased his understanding of hundreds of items.
‘There is no item with 100% understanding, but it is positive in the long run.’
The problem was that the rating of the guild’s items was just too high. After all, the higher the rating, the harder it was to raise understanding. For example, he appraised and repaired Vantner’s unique axes, but the understanding was only at 30%. But one day, if he had a chance to disassemble and explore the guild members’ items, it was possible to pursue 100% understanding based on today.
Grid felt better and reached out to Pon.
“Do you have the materials for the Gale Spear?”
“Of course.”
Pon handed over the materials.
Grid would finally produce an item! The guild members gulped with anticipation. Then Grid said to them. “I was curious about something since there are a lot of people here. It’s been half a day, so don’t you want to go hunt?”
“Heok! We have been here for so long?”
“Wah! It is already night out there?”
“This… I haven’t hunted today.”
“I’m somehow hungry…”
The guild members hadn’t been aware of the time because they were too caught up with Grid. They were worried about being overtaken in the rankings by other users and hurriedly left the smithy.
“Then work hard Grid!”
“Pon, show us your spear when it is complete!”
“Make a rare spear for Pon!”
“Shut up, Vantner!”
The guild members said friendly goodbyes to Grid. They were like friends.
‘Friends…’
Grid felt awkward, but it wasn’t a bad feeling.
“Then now…”
Everyone left, and as usual, Khan and Grid were the only ones remaining in the smithy.
“Let’s start the item production.”