Chapter 68
Chapter 68
Ch. 68 .｡.:✧ The Late-Blooming Mana Stone (2) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“I… I think I failed with this mana stone…”
Tears rolled down Tay’s cheeks.
She had messed up.
She had completely betrayed Investor’s trust.
With that thought, she simply couldn’t raise her head.
What kind of expression was Investor making now?
With what kind of eyes was he looking down at her?
She was afraid to confirm it.
‘I shouldn’t have failed…’
There was no way she could have failed.
That was what she had thought at first.
As always, once she had started working on it, her hands moved as if possessed by a god.
Usually there would be a snag at some point in the middle.
But this time, her hands truly moved without stopping.
She couldn’t rest for even a moment.
Because she didn’t know when this flow might end.
As long as her hands were still moving, she couldn’t stop.
She repeatedly brought tools to scratch, strike, and break without pause.
She continued working until her eyes stung, peering through the lenses of her goggles.
Since no sunlight entered the workshop, she couldn’t even tell how much time had passed.
Of course, that wasn’t important.
She had poured her soul into processing the mana stone, and now she was nearing the end.
She was in the final stages.
Although her eyes trembled from sleepiness and her arms shook from exhaustion, she didn’t loosen her focus until the very end.
Crack.
The chisel removed the last fragment of the mana stone.
The processing was complete.
Only then did the tension finally release, all strength leaving her body as she collapsed to the floor.
She dared to predict that this was a great success.
Of all the mana stones that had passed through her hands, none had a higher completion level than this one.
She could confidently say that.
It should have been that way in reality too.
But the moment she applied the inspection device to evaluate the mana stone:
“Huh?! Why is it like this?”
Her eyes widened.
The various gauges on the inspection device’s panel…
They were all pointing to 0.
Not even extremely small values.
Zero.
The mana capacity was zero.
The mana transfer efficiency had plummeted to negative values.
Not only was it worse than when it was a raw stone, It was even worse than handling mana barehanded without a mana stone.
“Why on earth…!”
This couldn’t be happening.
It had definitely shown signs of success.
She fell into panic, unable to speak for a long while.
She didn’t know how many times she had uselessly applied and removed the inspection device.
After being in a daze like that for about 5 minutes,
News came that Investor had entered the VIP waiting room.
The processing was already finished, so she couldn’t delay any longer.
So she swallowed her tears, collected herself, and placed the mana stone in a box.
She got on the elevator, holding a mana stone that was worse than garbage.
“I’m so sorry… I’m sorry, Investor… I ruined it…”
And in front of Investor who had arrived, she finally burst into tears that she had been holding back.
How unsightly, having failed like this…
“You trusted me… You entrusted me with such a precious mana stone… And I messed it up…”
Where had it gone wrong?
She couldn’t understand.
Usually when she made a mistake in the middle, she would always get an uneasy feeling, but there was none of that this time.
Was it because this was only her second time with a black mana stone?
Had she become arrogant without realizing it after successfully processing the first one?
All sorts of thoughts raced through her mind.
“Tay.”
“Yes…”
“Look at my face.”
“…”
She swallowed and barely managed to raise her head.
Suppressing her fear, she faced Investor.
But unexpectedly, Investor didn’t look particularly disappointed.
With a faint smile, he placed his large hand on her head.
The weight of it drew a small sigh from her.
“Ah…”
“Calm down. I’m not angry.”
“Yes…”
“You haven’t finished explaining about the mana stone yet. You should finish.”
“Th-the mana capacity is 0. The mana transfer efficiency is negative 20… And, and…”
“What about additional functions?”
“Pardon?”
“Additional functions. Were there none this time?”
“…”
She froze in place, dumbfounded.
Ah.
Additional functions.
Come to think of it, when she had processed the black mana stone last time, a function to store a small amount of mana inside had emerged.
What about this time then?
She had forgotten to check that.
Because she had been so shocked by the devastating performance…
“Ah, I haven’t checked that yet!”
“Tsk tsk. You’re still far from being a pro. You brought the finished product before completing quality checks?”
“I’m sorry…”
“Right. That’s what you should be sorry for. The performance? Of course it’s good if it turns out well. But I didn’t entrust it to you to get a good mana stone. I wanted to get a mana stone processed by you. You didn’t cut corners in your work or make mistakes during the process, right?”
“No, not at all! I thought it was perfect while I was working on it…”
“Then that’s fine. You did well. Good job. As long as it’s the result of you doing your best, I don’t mind anything else. How could I invest without taking any risks? All investments involve taking risks.”
“Investoooor!”
“You did well. Good job.”
Hearing these words that she never imagined she would hear, tears welled up again.
If she had heard words of disappointment here, she didn’t think she would have been able to get up again.
Because it was the result of exerting her maximum talent without a single mistake.
She didn’t think she could do any better than this.
Investor knew that, and comforted her.
Because he believed in her.
Because he believed that she never compromised and always did her best when it came to processing mana stones.
That belief supported her.
It pushed her back.
So she wouldn’t fall.
So she wouldn’t stop.
“Then! I’ll check right away now! What kind of additional function it has!”
Moreover, it hadn’t been definitively declared a failure yet.
Because the additional function hadn’t been checked yet.
Perhaps an incredible additional function had been created in exchange for the mana capacity and efficiency…?
If that was the case, it would make sense.
It would explain why the result of pouring her soul into it turned out like this.
Encouraged by Investor’s words, she checked and…
“Oh? Mana is going in!”
She was able to discover a function similar to the previous mana stone.
When she poured mana into the stone, instead of flowing through, it was absorbed.
No matter how much she put in, it kept going in endlessly.
Considering that the storage capacity of the previous work was really tiny, this was an amazing level.
Perhaps this was a mana storage with an enormous capacity?
Just as such expectations were rising,
“Hmm. It seems to only go in and not come out.”
“Pardon…?”
News like a bolt from the blue struck her.
The mana she poured in… couldn’t be taken back out…?
Then what use was it?
“It’s a failure…”
“Hey hey! Pull yourself together! Focus your eyes!”
Her head was spinning.
‘What on earth is this?’
Tay had done something.
This time it was quite a big accident.
That was because…
⚙ System Notification ⚙
› [Accumulation: 80/62,500]
The moment he put mana into the mana stone, such a window popped up.
Tay didn’t seem to notice it at all, so it wasn’t a function of the mana stone itself.
Undecided, who was lying on the sofa with a displeased expression, didn’t show any particular reaction either.
This meant it was a system window only visible to him…
‘Accumulation? What happens when this is filled up?’
There was too much he didn’t understand.
For now, when he used the Inspect trait on the mana stone, this window appeared:
Status: Good
A magic tool made by processing the dead soul of the Great Druid Kali.
It will bloom when the time comes.
The explanation was far too lacking.
It was absurd.
There was no information about why mana needed to be charged, what “blooming” meant, or what would happen when it bloomed.
One thing was certain – this “blooming” was no ordinary matter.
It was an additional function significant enough for even the system window to intervene.
In his experience, such cases only occurred when discovering an incredible hidden item.
“What should we do?! The mana only goes in and doesn’t come out… Waaah! This is completely useless waste!”
“Stop crying already, will you.”
So Tay had now reached the level of creating hidden items?
He was so dumbfounded he couldn’t even laugh.
She had said her hands moved on their own as if possessed by a god while working…
It seemed like the god of craftsmanship had really entered Tay’s body and then left.
‘So what should I do with this?’
The remaining mana needed until blooming was 62,500.
Even if he poured in all his mana boosted by Guardian Knight every day, it would take at least 250 days.
What if he entrusted it to Mia then?
Elvenguard was an environment where mana naturally accumulated even when standing still.
If he asked Mia to continuously pour mana into it, he thought they might be able to aim for “blooming” within 3 months, but
‘No. That’s too dangerous.’
He couldn’t carelessly entrust it to a third party when he didn’t even know what this “blooming” was.
You never know.
Though the probability was extremely low, an unmanageable disaster could befall Elvenguard.
Or if a good reward appeared, Elvenguard might swallow it up without informing him.
It seemed right for him to keep this mana stone and put in a little bit at a time as he traveled.
Considering that he needed to leave some mana in reserve and couldn’t put it all in, it would take over a year at minimum.
Of course, that was if he filled it alone.
He could also get help from others.
Perhaps an opportunity to receive large amounts of mana donations might arise.
He might unexpectedly see this “blooming” soon.
‘That’s good. There’s a high chance the peak will be higher.’
A mana stone that had gone through processing by a skilled artisan was unlikely to suddenly transform into a dangerous bomb.
This “blooming” was likely to be something beneficial to him.
It even required accumulating as much as 62,500 mana?
Perhaps it was an item that would greatly raise his peak.
He wasn’t in a hurry for a high-performance mana stone anyway, since he had separate ones he used as his main.
He had already far surpassed high-end level, so a slight increase in stats from here wouldn’t be very meaningful.
A random box aiming for a high peak was actually much better for him.
“Investor. You don’t have to pay for this one. No, actually, I should be the one paying you… Since I ruined a perfectly good raw stone…”
“It’s fine. Take the money. I wanted this mana stone.”
“But, but this is clearly a failure by anyone’s standards!”
Tay raised her voice as if opposing him.
She must have been very disappointed in herself to even talk back to him.
It seemed he needed to be a bit stern.
“Who says it’s a failure?”
“It has no use at all…”
“That’s why I’m asking, who says that? You never know. Maybe a special effect will activate when enough mana is put in.”
“That…!”
“I guarantee it. Something incredible will definitely happen. If nothing happens then, I’ll bring it back and I’ll refund you. How’s that?”
“Huh…?”
“And you say you ruined the raw stone? Don’t say such nonsense. If this was still raw, it would have been completely useless. It wouldn’t have been any better than the mana stone I’m using now. But after going through your hands, it gained this interesting function. How about we look forward to seeing what happens when we fill it with mana together?”
Tay started to whimper again.
Didn’t she ever get tired?
Lest she cry again, he pulled her head close and embraced her first.
Then Tay hugged his waist tightly and desperately tried to hold back her tears.
“Thank you… Thank you always… If it weren’t for you, I… I…”
Tay couldn’t finish her last words and finally burst into tears.
If it weren’t for him?
She worried about the strangest things.
Even without him, she would have made a name for herself as the best artisan.
Though that time might have been delayed a little.
As if she had calmed down a bit, Tay slowly pulled away from him.
Since Tay’s hands were dirty, he wiped her eyes for her instead.
Come to think of it, there was something else he wanted to ask.
“Ah, right. Could you receive my letters here in this building? Without letting them leak outside. You’re the only one I can trust.”
“Sniff. Yes. Of course. If it can help you, Investor. But whose letters are you receiving that you need to be so careful?”
“The priestess of Elvenguard, the eldest daughter of Yevgenia, and the Countess Briam.”
“You want to use my workshop as a contact point for your mistresses?! No way!”
“Hey. Mistresses…”
Tay shook her head in shock.
Her words were a bit harsh.
He had given up things like affairs long ago.
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