The Glass Stone Ring (2)

A C+ rank Glass Stone, once cut and worked into a ring, had come out B-rank.

That was no easy thing.

When raw ore is worked into jewelry, of course, it isn't unusual for a blacksmith's skill to nudge the grade upward. But an accessory made by simply processing the ore that serves as its main material usually just inherits the grade of that ore. Brew a recovery potion from C− rank Recovery Herb berries, and the potion comes out C−. Mix C− with D+ at the wrong ratio, and you get D+. Put in a single material, and the result follows that material's original grade. That is simply how it works — unless you start adding all manner of other resources meant to amplify what the material can do.

Which meant the blacksmith who had made this ring possessed an absurdly fine skill.

"He said he put a lot of care into it. Polishing stones, all sorts of extras."

"Isn't that insanely expensive?"

"It is. A friend of your dad's was good enough to make it properly."

"Whoa... these options are insane."

Kim Sujeong's energy had climbed another notch, maybe because she'd had one more drink. Then again, even sober, a reaction like that wouldn't have been strange. The ring's options really were that good.

On nothing more than a twenty percent boost to mana-skill effects, they'd already been looking at a piece worth somewhere around seven billion won. Not only had that effect climbed to twenty-five percent — two more mana-related options had stuck to it besides. And they weren't junk options, either. Uncapped, legendary-grade options.

A stat at +1 rank is generally rated highly by everyone, but among the stats, Magic tends to be valued a little more than the rest, since it ties directly into skills. All the more so when it sits on an item that already carries a mana-related damage amplifier. And on top of all that, maximum mana rose by twenty percent as well.

"Sell this, and every mage in the world is going to show up."

Just the mages? Any hunter with a name worth knowing might come charging in to buy the ring.

"According to my friend, he's made more pieces of jewelry than he can count, and he's never seen anything like this. The grade may only be B-rank, but if you look at value alone, it's better than an S-rank ring. He said the Glass Stone itself is only C+ rank, so the grade was actually being held down."

Dad went on bragging even as he swallowed his regret.

"Suhyun's farm, you said? Grow it well. I'm getting plenty of help from it myself, but the resources ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠coming out of there really do seem excellent."

I'd already known they were good. Seeing the Glass Stone ring, though, I could be sure of it all over ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠again.

Resource rarity: SSS.

So a grade really does prove its own worth.

"Oppa. Can I really have this? I'm asking one last time."

Kim Sujeong turned the silver ring over in her fingers — it shone like clear moonlight — and looked at me with her face full of lingering want.

I held out my hand.

"If you don't want it, hand it over."

"You're not gonna take that back later, right?"

"Think of it as a signing bonus for working the rest of your life."

"..."

She tried it on her own finger once. Then she pulled it off, snatched up my hand, and slid it onto mine.

"What?"

"An investment."

"Huh?"

"I think this is something you ought to be wearing, Oppa."

And with that, playing it cool, she let the ring go to me.

"The ten percent you're giving me. Honestly, that's a family perk. I hate that kind of thing more than anything. Let's say giving you the ring is me investing, and I'll take the ten percent. Then we're good, right?"

"...Seems like I'm just handing you both for free."

"Ah, drop it. Like you said, it's a pearl necklace on a pig. And after seeing the options on the thing that dropped, I'm scared to walk around wearing it."

"What a—"

Give it to her and she still throws a fit.

I was about to say it, but I could read well enough what Kim Sujeong was feeling, so I let it go. Cold and practical, it really did make more sense for me to wear it anyway. The options suited a user with SSS+ Rank abilities perfectly, and now that I'd learned Two-Fold Strike, using skills freely was bound to put a strain on my mana. This Glass Stone ring looked like it could take care of that problem, at least in part.

"We've got an ogre to hunt, too. This should be enough prep, right?"

"Yeah. It should."

See it, and you want it. I'd handed the thing over without a second thought, but once it was on my finger, it didn't feel half bad. For a drop that had turned up over grilled pork belly, it was a pretty expensive piece of luck.

"Pfft."

I was cracking some joke and tipping my soju glass when I caught the look on Dad's face across from me, and the drink sprayed right back out.

"...Dad."

"Huh? No. You brat. You look at me like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that, and what does that make your dad?"

"Dad. Should we sell it?"

"I said no."

"Honey..."

So he did regret it, after all. Put it up for auction, and it would be a fine chance for the name Gwangjin Distribution to spread across the world.

"I'm really fine. Even I know it's better to wear what you actually need. What we have already is more than enough."

That mutually cringing little refusal routine was exactly the sort of thing I couldn't stand, so I didn't push. And Dad was right. It wasn't merely enough. It overflowed. Even without anything on the level of the Glass Stone ring, the Recovery Herb berries we'd brought back this time alone would have the upper guilds scrambling for a good long while to get their hands on potions out of Gwangjin Distribution.

"Kyaa! Are you insane?! What is this?!"

Lee Jihyun had come by the house after getting the call, then screamed and toppled straight over backward.

"I'm seeing this wrong, aren't I? This isn't Recovery Herb. It's Miracle Herb, right?"

Asking twice wasn't going to change the letters written in the item description.

"A− rank Recovery Herb actually exists? What dungeon did you even come back from?"

A− rank Recovery Herb was hardly something that couldn't exist. Run an A-rank dungeon, and A− to A+ rank Recovery Herbs would turn up. The problem, just as Lee Jihyun said, was that A-rank Recovery Herbs only appeared if you went to an A-rank dungeon. Right now even the very top guilds were busy clearing A-rank dungeons and hemming and hawing over whether to attempt S-rank — so when some herbalist(?) who had only awakened a little while ago showed up holding an A− rank Recovery Herb, not being shocked would have been the strange part.

"Unni. Know too much, and you'll get hurt."

"..."

Kim Sujeong shut it down nice and clean. Not that the look in Lee Jihyun's eyes was the sort to simply let it pass with an ah... yes... I see. She just didn't ask anything more. For Lee Jihyun, where this Recovery Herb had come from mattered less than the fact that it was sitting right in front of her.

"How many even is this... at a rough count it looks like over three hundred..."

She'd been the same last time. When it came to numbers, she counted with terrifying precision.

"You're really all right with me turning all of this into potions?"

"Make every last one."

"Hah..."

Hunters are given quests, too. Just like in Farming World. Not nearly as many as the endless pile of quests handed to me inside the rift dimension, but quests suited to one's abilities keep coming, steadily offering a reason to grow and a reward for doing it. Naturally, most of the quests given to an alchemist have to do with alchemy. Make a potion. Make a precious potion. The harder a quest is to clear, the greater the reward, and from the perspective of users grinding their levels up the hard way, picking up even a little in points through quests is worth it.

"All of this... should I start coming in to work tomorrow?"

"What?"

"Doing it somewhere else, taking all this with me..."

"Take it with you, Unni. We're in a relationship of trust."

"...No. I think I'd feel easier if I came in to work."

Lee Jihyun was dead set against carrying them off. Last time the grade had been fairly high, but still only middling, and since we'd bought the Recovery Herbs outright she could take them home and work with an easy mind. This time they were essentially on credit. The profit wouldn't exist until they were made and sold, and that made her anxious.

"It isn't that I don't trust you. I'm just afraid something might go wrong. Even if nobody would ever know... just in case."

She insisted, and it wasn't as if she were asking us to haul the stuff over to her, so we told her to do as she liked. Lee Jihyun let out a breath of relief — and then she got a look at the Recovery Herb leaves and had a fit.

Lee ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Jihyun clapped a hand over her mouth, then explained in a trembling voice why she was making such a fuss.

"There was a time an A-rank Recovery Herb turned up before. Leaves and fruit together, it sold at auction for a little over a hundred million won, and the alchemist who bought it made the leaves into ointment and the fruit into a recovery potion, mixed with lower-grade fruit. What came out of that, unfortunately, was a high-grade recovery potion and a top-grade recovery ointment."

At A-rank, people attach the word top-grade. But there had been only a single fruit, so when the potion was made they'd had no choice but to mix in lower-grade Recovery Herb berries, and because of that it had dropped a full grade and come out merely high-grade. The leaves, on the other hand, they'd bought something like three of, and those had been made into ointment as they were.

"The options were fewer than these, but that one did have this regeneration and restoration of skin cells attached."

Set beside the rift dimension's resource rarity of SSS, of course, even the same grade can come with shabbier options.

"After research came out showing that when the ointment was used, that option made the skin age of the area it was applied to younger, the single jar that was left went back up for auction and sold for four hundred and fifty million won."

What is she even talking about?

That must have been written all over my face, because Lee Jihyun's eyes drifted as she counted the leaves — several times more of them than the fruit — and explained, in a voice like her soul had already left her body.

"What I'm saying is, a natural skin-sculpting ointment."

No knife. Just spread it on, and you don't merely get ten years younger — you rejuvenate all the way back to a child's skin.

She had taken the very long way around to say that it was expensive.