Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 54. 4th Circle (2)
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New unlock notifications flooded my view the moment I leveled up.
I left the dungeon first and headed back to my lodging.
After that.
I checked the newly unlocked shop first.
The familiar gacha screen was up, and the achievement was already complete.
It had been used without my say-so to craft Black Hole magic.
In the 4th Circle Shop, the worthwhile pulls were things like Advanced Recovery Runes and Magic Fusion Runes.
Compared to other shops, the 4th Circle one had better drop rates.
I could take my time pulling here.
Next, I looked at the other new unlock.
Spiritstones.
Stones that birthed spirits—mana-based lifeforms.
Spirits of each grade produced special materials at regular intervals.
Those could be used to craft all sorts of items, including gacha currency.
"This one's iffy."
Spiritstones were a farming aid system, but with my cash overflowing, they weren't as useful.
Still, carrying a spirit around gave stat boosts.
I bought pull tickets first.
I hit the 10x pull button.
Pop!
『Lower Spiritstone (Earth) x3』
『Lower Spiritstone (Fire) x2』
『Lower Spiritstone (Water) x2』
『Lower Spiritstone (Wind) x3』
"Hmm."
Still bad luck.
I pulled out one of the spiritstones in my hand.
『Lower Spiritstone (Earth)』
— A stone infused with the vitality of the earth and the mana of nature. A faint life flickers within.
[Generates Sparkling Sand at regular intervals]
『Sparkling Sand』
— Sand that faintly glows with infused mana. Widely used as a magic reagent.
[!] Hatch the spiritstone? Remaining slots: 0/1
【Current Affinity: 0】
"Bittersweet."
The spiritstone release was when bots and alt accounts started ruining the game, so I didn't have great memories.
The magic reagents like sparkling sand that spirits produced could be traded.
But since they went into gacha currency and magic item crafting, it caused issues.
Plus, spiritstones and other gacha items were handed out in weekly quests and events.
It didn't take long for mass-produced alts to crash the reagent market.
"Sigh."
I shook off the bitter memories.
A little management could have helped.
I'd written guides consistently since the early days to try and save it... but I gave up on spiritstones.
The more I analyzed, the more it seemed like it just helped bot farms.
"Eh."
I cleared my head of the thoughts.
Right now was not the time.
『Lower Spiritstone (Earth)』
— Hatch? Requires regular mana supply.
I hit confirm to start hatching the lower spiritstone.
Mana slowly drained from my body.
Since it was lower-grade, the amount wasn't much.
The spiritstone vibrated briefly after absorbing the mana—
Dust-like brown particles floated in the air.
【Lower Spirit (Earth)】
— Please set a name.
And beneath it.
Plop. Plop.
"Oh."
Sparkling sand grains started dropping to the floor.
Sparkling sand from a lower spirit.
I hurriedly pulled out the pouch I'd been using for platinum coins and held it under the spirit.
Afterward.
【Release the spirit?】
— Rewards paid immediately.
『Releasing incurs a one-week cooldown.』
I released the lower spirit.
Whoosh—
『Release: Lower Spirit (Earth)』
— Sparkling Sand granted.
The brown smoke from the lower spirit dispersed.
A handful of sparkling sand poured into the pouch at the same time.
Releasing a spirit gave instant rewards.
But it came with a one-week cooldown.
It matched my memory, so I continued with the remaining pulls.
Pop!
『Lower Spiritstone (Earth) x1』
『Lower Spiritstone (Fire) x2』
『Lower Spiritstone (Water) x2』
『Lower Spiritstone (Wind) x3』
『Mid-tier Spiritstone (Earth) x2』
I hammered the buttons familiarly.
By the time I'd used all 1,000 pull tickets.
Rumble—
An earthquake-like effect hit, and one spiritstone glowed brightly.
『Supreme Spiritstone (Wind)』
— A stone infused with the mana and life force of raging storms.
[Generates Eye of the Storm at regular intervals]
『Eye of the Storm』
— A crystal from storm zones. Used as a rare magic reagent.
[!] Hatch the spiritstone? Remaining slots: 0/1
【Current Affinity: 1】
I'd finally gotten a supreme spiritstone.
Eyes of the storm were reagents mainly for wind magic.
Hand them to the magic tower folks, and I could get gacha currency.
They were supposed to be super rare, but in practice, they were dime-a-dozen junk.
"Hm?"
A question popped into my head.
The reagents from spirits tanked in value because of bot and alt account spam.
But now... everything was offline?
"......"
I stared at the supreme spiritstone in my hand.
No way...?
I started by hatching it first.
『Supreme Spiritstone (Wind)』
— Hatch? Requires regular mana supply.
[!] Insufficient mana for hatching.
Supreme spiritstones needed a ton of mana to hatch.
『Absorb Mid-tier Spiritstone (Wind)?』
Absorbing other spiritstones covered some mana needs.
Same element gave bonus, so I shoved every wind spiritstone I had into it.
Grind!
The supreme spiritstone vibrated violently, then turned into a mini storm and floated up.
Small bells and debris in the room scattered in the gusts from the spirit.
After waiting it out, the winds died down, revealing the spirit's form.
Less a living thing and more a natural phenomenon—a tiny storm manifesting there.
【Supreme Spirit (Wind)】
— Please set a name.
"Sylph."
【Sylph】
— Supreme Wind Spirit
Once I named it, Sylph nestled into my palm.
The winds stopped, and a fluffy cloud-like form settled there.
"Kinda cute."
Hatching the supreme spirit bumped my affinity by 100 and raised my spirit limit.
Affinity could also rise through interactions beyond just hatching.
Spirits would up and leave if dissatisfaction piled up.
Provide the right environment, though, and production sped up.
Satisfaction also boosted affinity.
I opened my Status Window to check the last unlock.
A shop selling special natural objects to create environments spirits liked.
Set that up right, and no worries about them leaving.
But.
"Time to move maybe."
I looked around my lodging.
It was decent enough, but natural objects needed space.
I'd had this place for about a month. Better to think about moving before next rent.
Natural objects could only be bought once, so ideally I'd buy my own place first.
"For now... shall I check it out?"
I slipped outside.
---
"Ah, Sir Rain!"
May from the city hall greeted me warmly.
She pulled out the scales like it was routine, but.
"Not mana stones today."
"...Oh! What brings you here then?"
"Just one question."
"...Eek."
I leaned in close to May so no one else could hear.
"Do you sell magic reagents here at the hall by any chance?"
"...... Y-Yes? Oh, uh...!"
May backed away hurriedly and pulled out a thick ledger.
"We mostly get them from the magic tower... but I can check for you! Which reagent's price do you need?"
"Sparkling sand and Eye of the Storm. Those two."
"Got it! One moment......"
May flipped through the ledger quickly and found the prices.
I planned to head to the magic tower today anyway to sell them there.
But good to know the rates.
"Ah! Here it is. Want to see?"
May pointed to the entries for sparkling sand and Eye of the Storm.
『Sparkling Sand』
— Rainbow-glowing sand crystals. Acquisition difficulty: Medium.
【30 platinum coins per small pouch】
『Eye of the Storm』
— Crystals formed in storm zones. Acquisition difficulty: Extreme.
【5,000 platinum coins per crystal】
"What do you think?"
May said something, but it didn't register.
Sparkling sand: 30 platinum coins per pouch from the labyrinth.
Eye of the Storm: 5,000 platinum per crystal.
One platinum coin equals 10,000 won... so one Eye of the Storm was 50 million won.
...Insane.