Chapter 51
We promptly gathered the items from the Smiles' remains.
We got four earth-element magic stones and three pieces of Blacksteel equipment.
And one rare item dropped by the Cry.
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〈Blacksteel Hammer〉 (Recommended Equipment Lv: 45)
【Attack: +16】
【Market Value: 4.6 million Gordo】
A hammer made of Blacksteel.
Its performance is plain, but it is relatively easy to obtain, so many adventurers use Blacksteel equipment.
Whether equipment is made of Blacksteel or a higher- or lower-grade material is one way to gauge its quality.
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The first item was a 〈Blacksteel Hammer〉.
It had fairly high attack power, but hammers took a little knack to use.
Even if you met the level requirement, you probably shouldn't equip one unless you had a class suited to it.
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〈Blacksteel Ingot〉
【Market Value: 4 million Gordo】
An ingot of Blacksteel.
It's easy to work with and has high performance.
Blacksteel equipment is a common sight in 〈Dungeon〉, beloved by blacksmiths and adventurers alike.
Whether equipment is made of Blacksteel or a higher- or lower-grade material is one way to gauge its quality.
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The second item was a 〈Blacksteel Ingot〉.
It was a large rectangular block.
〈Blacksteel Ingot〉 was stamped on its surface, and beneath that was even a Smile emblem.
"Talk about being obvious..."
It was fairly heavy and could be thrown as a weapon in a pinch... but I had no intention of casually wasting something worth four million Gordo.
We could ask a blacksmith to turn the hammer and ingot into weapons we could use, or just sell them as they were... Those were our options.
And then there was the third item.
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〈Blacksteel Sword〉 (Recommended Equipment Lv: 45)
【Attack: +15】
【Market Value: 4.5 million Gordo】
A sword made of Blacksteel.
Its performance is plain, but it is relatively easy to obtain, so many adventurers use Blacksteel equipment.
Whether equipment is made of Blacksteel or a higher- or lower-grade material is one way to gauge its quality.
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...We'd already gotten our hands on some stopgap weapons.
Somehow, we'd already achieved our minimum goal.
Getting Blacksteel equipment suited to our current level range was one of the things we absolutely wanted to accomplish here in the 〈Centipede Tunnel〉, but after the 〈Blacksteel Knife〉, we'd now gotten a 〈Blacksteel Sword〉 as well.
Honestly, I thought there was a chance we'd get either a knife or a sword.
But I hadn't expected to get exactly the right equipment for both of us, so I'd planned to use other Blacksteel items to have a sword made by a blacksmith in Lacolina.
Smiles dropped quite a wide variety of Blacksteel equipment.
There were a 〈Blacksteel Axe〉, 〈Blacksteel Bow〉, and 〈Blacksteel Wand〉 for other classes...
Then there were the half-junk 〈Blacksteel Stick〉, 〈Blacksteel Pickaxe〉, and 〈Blacksteel Fishing Rod〉...
There were all sorts of others, too.
I never expected the exact sword and knife we needed to drop from the lot.
"Hehe... Now we match!"
Ruche said happily.
"Blacksteel is easy to get and strong."
In 〈Magic World〉, most players who played efficiently went through a Blacksteel equipment set once they were past the beginner stage.
You'd often see low-level players in cities all dressed in black, too.
"And now, the real question is this."
I picked up the rare item dropped by the leader of the Smiles... the Cry: a clear, spherical stone.
It had a reddish gleam, and symbols like writing floated within the crystal.
"What is that? It looks a little like a magic stone..."
"It's completely different from a magic stone. It's a Rune."
A Rune could be embedded in a weapon to improve its abilities.
Generally, only one could be embedded in each weapon, and a blacksmith's help was essential to do it.
However, we'd have to inspect it to find out exactly which Rune this was.
Some Runes had pretty useless effects.
Since it was red, it probably wasn't anything too terrible, though...
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〈Destruction Rune〉
【Market Value: 20 million Gordo】
A Rune that brings destruction.
Increases the attack power bonus of the weapon it's embedded in by 【30%】.
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"Oh, this is a big hit."
It was a Rune that improved offensive power.
There was no question this was one of the good ones.
Damage-boosting Runes were never duds, and they consistently held their value.
Ruche's face turned pale as she checked the details.
"Eek! Th-this is worth twenty million Gordo?! Something this... slightly oversized, pretty marble-like thing?!"
"It's an item that unconditionally increases the attack power bonus of the weapon it's embedded in by 【30%】. I didn't think we'd be considering Runes at our current level, though. Still, I'm not sure whether we should use it or sell it."
A 【30%】 increase to the attack bonus on weapons we could equip at our current level wouldn't amount to much.
If we cared about those numbers, it might be better to sell it, turn the money into expensive healing items, and focus on leveling up on the first floor.
But there were plenty of high-level adventurers who wouldn't hesitate to spend tens of millions of Gordo just to raise a weapon's stats by one point.
After all, in 〈Magic World〉, once you could no longer defeat monsters at your own level, you'd hit your growth limit.
You had to choose your companions carefully, plan your strategy down to the last detail, and get weapons with even slightly better performance.
...On the other hand, if we held on to the Rune, we could remove it from a weapon when we replaced it and embed it in our next one.
So selling it off on a whim still felt like a bit of a waste.
"I-I'd be scared of losing it! Let's put it in the 〈Magic Bag〉 for now!"
Ruche said in a panic.
...Still, the total was getting pretty impressive.
The 〈Destruction Rune〉 had made the value shoot up all at once.
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〈Destruction Rune〉: 20 million Gordo
〈Blacksteel Hammer〉: 4.6 million Gordo
〈Blacksteel Sword〉: 4.5 million Gordo
〈Blacksteel Knife〉: 4.3 million Gordo
〈Blacksteel Ingot〉: 4 million Gordo
〈Cry Magic Stone〉: 900,000 Gordo
〈Smile Magic Stone〉: 800,000 Gordo × 4
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"We're at about 41.5 million Gordo now."
At this rate, we might surpass what we'd earned in 〈Angel's Toy Box〉.
We had time, and after a short break, both Ruche and I could keep going.
Ruche swayed unsteadily and put a hand against the wall.
"Are you all right, Ruche?"
Even if we'd defeated them fairly safely, our lives had been on the line.
The mental strain was considerable, and a tense body could wear you down more than you'd expect.
"No, I was surprised by the amount, too, but..."
Ruche held her head as she steadied herself.
"...More than that, I'm surprised I wasn't as shocked as I expected to be."
Maybe Ruche's sense of money was starting to shift toward that of a 〈Magic World〉 player.
It was pretty rare for a Clown with 〈Great Luck〉 to struggle financially.