BANG! BANG!
“Delivery!”
A rough knock followed by the delivery man’s shout.
A huge parcel sat in front of the door.
“…Finally here.”
These were the items I bought with the money earned from selling artifacts at the auction house.
Of course, they cost less than a millionth of what I made.
I immediately dragged the boxes inside.
“Let’s see.”
I ripped the tape off with gusto.
RRRRRIP!
What looked like absolute junk spilled out.
Each piece of trash had a little sticker attached.
[Decorative Sword Set (No Refunds/Exchanges)]
[Fake Black Buddha Statue (No Refunds/Exchanges)]
[Brass Dog Bowl (No Refunds/Exchanges)]
[Bronze Seal (No Refunds/Exchanges)]
Every single one had “No Refunds or Exchanges” boldly emphasized.
All sorts of other knick-knacks were crudely wrapped in newspaper.
If anyone else saw this and I told them I paid real money for it, what would they say?
Even past-me would have frowned and called it a waste of cash.
But it was the exact opposite.
Because the things inside these boxes were not junk.
I took out a round monocle from my inventory.
One of the artifacts I obtained from the Ancient Castle of Congealed Blood.
Ding-dong!
-<Gentleman Thief’s Monocle> / Accessory / A
A jewel once worn by the legendary phantom thief who shook the Lokpia continent centuries ago.
It is said that wearing it allows one to see the true nature of objects.
-Skill ‘Eye of Truth’ available
┖ Eye of Truth (A): Reveals an object’s information and true value. (Passive)
With this, I could slap any luxury authenticator in the face.
As soon as I equipped the monocle, new information began appearing before my eyes.
Flash! Flash! Flash! Flash!
The true details of everything in the boxes floated up.
Let’s start with the “dog bowl” from the Chinatown antique shop.
Ding-dong!
<Tang Tri-Color Hibiscus Plate>
A plate crafted by a master artisan of China’s Tang Dynasty, modeled after hibiscus flowers.
A pair of mandarin ducks with spread wings is delicately engraved on the base, surrounded by vines, lotus flowers, and bead patterns in beautiful harmony.
– Authenticity: Y
– Value: ★★★
The item labeled “dog bowl” was actually a Tang Dynasty relic.
Definitely authentic; the three-star value was probably because of its poor preservation.
Next, the crude-looking fake black Buddha statue.
<Fake Black Buddha Statue>
A shoddy, unsightly sculpture made by some nameless back-alley craftsman in China.
– Authenticity: N
– Value: N
“Huh? I’m sure it showed as authentic in the photo…”
At that moment, my vision shimmered strangely.
Upon closer look, a faint light was leaking from the statue’s torso.
“Don’t tell me something’s hidden inside the statue?”
I smashed it open like a piggy bank.
CRASH!
What appeared made my eyes nearly pop out.
<Hunminjeongeum Haeryebon – First Edition>
The textbook compiled under King Sejong of Joseon that organized the Hunminjeongeum writing system.
The very first edition ever produced; lost for centuries and never rediscovered since.
– Authenticity: Y
– Value: ★★★★★ (beyond measurement)
“The Hunminjeongeum Haeryebon? Bro… why are you coming out of there…?”
The monocle had reacted not to the statue, but to the first-edition Hunminjeongeum Haeryebon hidden inside it as a “concealed relic.”
The original Korean alphabet textbook created by King Sejong and the Jiphyeonjeon scholars.
A treasure among treasures that countless scholars had searched for in vain.
Its value couldn’t even be expressed with five stars.
***
The treasure hunt continued for quite a while after that.
One hour later.
“Phew, pretty much done. If I flip all this… how many times the profit will I make…?”
The trash antiques in the boxes had transformed into priceless artifacts.
But the real jackpot was still to come.
I pulled out two thoroughly rusted swords from the very bottom of the parcel.
An F-rank twin-sword set I bought from the hunter auction house.
<Rusted White Sword> / One-Handed Sword / F
A white longsword discovered in an ancient emperor’s grand mausoleum.
It may once have been a famous blade, but now it is so rusted it can’t even cut bread.
– Attack +1
<Rusted Black Shortsword> / One-Handed Dagger / F
A black shortsword discovered in an ancient emperor’s grand mausoleum.
It may once have been a famous blade, but now it is so rusted it can’t even cut meat.
– Attack +1
A clearance item listed in the auction house’s cheapest section.
Both blade and scabbard were completely covered in rust.
F-rank with +1 attack power.
Needless to say, GOAT (Greatest Of All Trash) weapons.
The seller’s furious listing comment flashed before my eyes.
[Rusted swords 1+1 sale]
Got these artifacts from the Black-and-White Cemetery, a B-rank dungeon.
Killed the boss and got swords… but they’re F-rank. FUCK.
50k won each, 90k won for both…
Gonna buy beef and soju with this… FUCK YOU ALL!
The rage was practically radiating off the screen.
Clearing a B-rank dungeon and getting two F-rank swords as boss drops?
Even a saint would curse.
But if the seller ever learned the true purpose of these twin blades, he’d be crying blood.
Because these are S-rank weapons.
Or rather, materials for an S-rank weapon.
I looked at the rusted twin swords through the Gentleman Thief’s Monocle.
-<Ganjiang Sword> / Crafting Material / S
A white longsword forged by a legendary blacksmith.
Its blade, made from white-gleam ore that has bathed in sunlight for a full year, overflows with yang energy.
Can be reforged with the Moye Sword to create the harmonized Ganjiang-Moye Sword of yin and yang.
-<Moye Sword> / Crafting Material / S
A black shortsword forged by a legendary blacksmith.
Its blade, made from black-gleam ore that has never seen sunlight for a full year, overflows with yin energy.
Can be reforged with the Ganjiang Sword to create the harmonized Ganjiang-Moye Sword of yin and yang.
Not only the names, but the category, grade, and even the item descriptions had completely changed.
These two swords were S-rank materials for forging the legendary Ganjiang-Moye Sword.
Ding-dong!
<Ganjiang-Moye Sword Forging Method>
1. Melt the Ganjiang and Moye swords together at a heat that can burn even lava.
2. Pour the combined molten metal into a mold and quench it with cold that rivals absolute zero.
3. Apply the heat from step 1 again to the cooled sword removed from the mold.
4. Apply the cold from step 2 again.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 eight times at 30-minute intervals.
※ The Ganjiang-Moye Sword must be forged in heat that incinerates lava and quenched in cold approaching absolute zero.
An extremely demanding process.
“Heat that burns even lava,” “cold rivaling absolute zero.”
Those two conditions were the hardest.
But I had nothing to worry about.
Because I happen to have the perfect specialists on hand.
-Ding-dong!
<Receiving the ‘Open’ command.>
<Opening Morgue’s Magical Warehouse.>
***
Morgue’s Magical Warehouse – Safe Zone.
With the center of the storage area as the boundary, blazing crimson flames roared on the left, while violent frost storms raged on the right.
I had come to the place where the Yama Raja Armor and Tyrfing were stored.
I looked at the Yama Raja Armor and asked.
“You can do it, right?”
[Yes.]
“Good. Let’s do this properly.”
I patted the Yama Raja Armor and turned away.
The negotiation(?) was a success.
The hellfire flames spewing from the Yama Raja Armor, and the absolute-zero frost pouring from Tyrfing.
Was there any place more perfect for fulfilling those two conditions?
Now all I had to do was wait for the Ganjiang-Moye Sword to be completed.
In the meantime, I might as well do some warehouse management.
I opened various status windows in front of me.
The first one that caught my eye was the Shadow Knights window.
-Ding-dong!
[Shadow Knights]
▶ Yi Seonggye – Currently summoned
▶ Cheok Jungyeong – Currently summoned
▶ Yi I – Currently summoned
Yi Seonggye, Cheok Jungyeong, and Yi I.
The three Shadow Knights were currently exploring the Observation Zone.
The expedition leader was none other than the Death Knight Jeanne.
Ever since discovering traces of Ravianglily in a ruined village in the Observation Zone, Jeanne had volunteered to explore whenever she got the chance.
Of course, there hadn’t been any major progress since then.
But we might find a clue soon.
…Anyway.
Thanks to Jeanne and the Shadow Knights diligently exploring the Observation Zone,
Ding-dong!
<Observation Zone exploration rate has increased by 0.0000000001%!>
<Observation Zone exploration rate has increased by 0.0000000001%!>
<Observation Zone exploration rate has increased by 0.0000000001%!>
The exploration rate was steadily rising.
“Auto-farming macro is the best.”
Separately, the exploration also served as combat training for the Shadow Knights.
More precisely, teamwork training rather than individual combat experience.
They had performed well enough in the Ancient Castle of Congealed Blood.
But that was purely due to individual prowess, not teamwork.
To face S-rank threats, they needed at least the level of synergy that Cheok Junseong and Shin Sodam displayed as a duo.
At that moment, warning windows began flooding my vision.
Ding-dong!
<Warning! Stored item ‘MRG-682’ is rampaging!>
<Warning! Stored item ‘MRG-682’ is rampaging!>
<Warning! Stored item ‘MRG-682’ is rampaging!>
“MRG-682 is definitely…”
The Immortal Pseudo-Dragon.
“Why the hell are you throwing a fit again?”
I warped to the Pseudo-Dragon’s containment area.
Its prison was covered by thick blackout curtains.
Because of the creature’s request.
Stored items have all sorts of storage requirements.
Items without ego are simply a matter of how they’re kept, but items with ego are different.
They come with requests—conditions they want met.
Like how MRG-9778 “Smiling Woman” needs luxury women’s goods to tear apart.
For the Immortal Pseudo-Dragon, once a month it needs complete darkness.
“This isn’t a seven-star hotel. Why do these guys have so many damn demands?”
Looking closer, one corner of the blackout curtain had come loose and was flapping.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
…No wonder it fell off with all that thrashing.
Then, from inside came the Pseudo-Dragon’s anguished roar.
[KRRRRRAAAAAAAHHHH…… HUUUUUuuuuuu……]
A pained groan mixed with suffering.
What the hell does it even do in there every time?
The dragon had given me one strict warning.
[Human. Never look inside.]
The problem was that I remembered that warning at the exact moment I peeked past the curtain.
The first thing visible beyond the curtain was the dragon’s body.
It lay sprawled on the floor as if dead.
But it wasn’t a corpse—it was a shed skin, its belly roughly torn open.
Beside the shed skin was a completely naked, pure-white figure from head to toe.
“Why does it always turn into this kind of scene…?”
Crouching there was a woman I had never seen before.