The Auction Begins

Now I could fit my familiars with exclusive weapons.

The first thing that came to mind, of course, was Mitsu's katana.

I'd just reunited her with the artifact — would she hand it over that easily?

"I shall obey."

"Huh? You'll really let me?"

Mitsu coolly passed the katana over without a fuss.

"Were it not for Your Highness's grace, I never would have met this katana again."

Sure, I'd restored it with my power — but it had broken because of me in the first place.

She was thinking that while glaring daggers at Undtung.

Looks like Undtung had thoroughly gotten on Mitsu's bad side.

If she was handing it over this easily, I wasn't about to refuse. I was curious too — with a full month of cooldown slapped on it, just how good could this skill be?

I designated Mitsu's katana and activated Exclusive Weapon. White light flooded outward.

When the fierce light finally faded and I checked the weapon's specs, I couldn't help but gape.

"What the hell is this…"

It was strong enough to make the viewers lose their minds — the absolute peak of performance in existence right now. The appearance had changed too. What used to be an ordinary-looking katana had transformed the moment it became an exclusive weapon.

"That's so cool!"

A jet-black blade with crimson energy coiling around it — it looked downright sinister.

"Mitsu, how is it? You like it?"

I called out to her in a voice that, without meaning to, was fishing for praise.

"Your Highness…"

Mitsu took Dark Red Shadow in both hands as I held it out to her.

"I am utterly unworthy of such a gift."

Overflowing with joy, she carefully inspected every inch of her exclusive weapon.

"Um… Your Highness."

"Hmm?"

Undtung, who'd been reading the room, finally called out to me.

"Is it… possible for me to get one too?"

"Probably in a month?"

His face crumpled with pure disappointment.

"Ah, understood, yes."

He could make the most pitiful face in the world and there still wasn't a thing I could do about it.

A whole month of cooldown. What was I supposed to do?

"How dare you. Such a blessing is not meant for a lowly creature like you."

I ignored Mitsu's inner monologue and decided we'd head home to rest.

"That's the end of part one! Take a little break and I'll see you in part two~"

Not that I'd actually thought of anything for part two.

Back home, the three of us sat clustered together in a studio apartment that was already too small for this many people.

"Forget a guild ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠— once I save up some money, I need to buy a house first."

Mitsu's Tower cooldown was almost up.

I'd been planning to sell a single S-rank magic stone and move into a nice place with a view of the Han River.

That was before I saw how exclusive weapon enhancement worked.

"Exclusive weapons have a guaranteed enhancement success rate?!"

Of course, the status window wasn't just handing out free probability for nothing.

The materials required for enhancement were ridiculously hard to obtain.

"Hold on — what even is an S+-rank magic stone?"

Don't tell me I have to enhance an S-rank magic stone first?

"My dream of selling magic stones and getting rich…"

"Your Highness need not make such a large investment on this humble one's behalf."

She had a point. Selling one S-rank magic stone and living large would definitely be the comfortable option right now. But…

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"How am I supposed to resist this?!"

It was already a world-class artifact, and I was supposed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to just throw away a guaranteed enhancement that could make it who-knows-how-much stronger?

"S-rank magic stones don't just grow on trees."

Every single one was precious — and now I needed an S+-rank on top of that.

"Guess I'll have to make money some other way."

With that, I opened the gallery to clear my head. Nothing beat this for pure brain-rot entertainment.

Browsing the Hunter Gallery, a brilliant idea hit me.

"Maybe it's time to open the forge again?"

Come to think of it, last time the clients had been overflowing.

Stream the forge work as part-two content and rake in cash while I was at it?

With a money-making content idea locked in, I fired up the stream immediately.

The moment I went live, a flood of viewers poured in.

"Yay~ Today's part two is a viewer enhancement stream."

Keeping the doors shut for so long had paid off — the chat was on fire.

Now then… what if I went full money-grubber?

"Applications will be taken in order of donation amount~"

The chat iced over instantly, but I pressed on undeterred.

"Minimum starts at five million won, and whoever donates the most goes first~"

Pretty much the entire chat was roasting me.

I could feel Mitsu seething and trembling with rage.

I'd told her to stay quiet before the stream, so she wasn't showing it outwardly — but still.

"Hmm, I was pretty sure there were a lot of people who wanted enhancements."

Nobody wanted to go first. Everyone was waiting for someone else to blink.

Several minutes passed without a single donation.

"Haaah? So this is how we're playing it?"

This was a pure staring contest with me.

Fine. You want to play that game? Viewer training mode: activated.

"Looks like nobody's interested."

"Alright then, that's the end of today's stream."

I casually rested a finger on the end-stream button.

"Doesn't seem like anyone's interested, so what can I do. See you next stream."

"Wow, you all have a lot of money stashed away. No refunds even if it explodes, got it?"

I played completely innocent while watching the chat.

The donation numbers kept climbing.

"We've got ten million. Anyone going higher?"

A picky request, sure — but it was the highest bid.

With that much sincerity, I could work with it.

"Mwahaha! Twenty million won!"

"If nobody's going higher, we'll start from here."

Money collected. Time to have some fun blowing things up.

This donor's artifact was a massive war hammer.

With the auction closed, I bought a bunch of cheap artifacts on the spot to fulfill the donor's request.

"Undtung, tell me when it feels right?"

"I-I can really say something about this?"

My enhancement success rate was a measly 3%.

And Undtung's powerful luck was a trait that only applied to himself.

In other words, even if Undtung chimed in while I enhanced someone else's weapon, there was no way the success rate would skyrocket.

But who cared?

If it succeeds, it's thanks to me. If it explodes, blame Undtung.

I felt a little bad, but it couldn't be helped. Just sacrifice a little more for me, okay?

After exploding a few low-grade artifacts, Undtung's chosen moment arrived.

"I think you should enhance it now!"

"Here we gooo!"

Taking Undtung's cue, I brought the hammer down with everything I had.