Chapter 308: Coasting Gem

———Lerim———

<3: 03 pm>

We continue walking through the pawn shop, searching for anything that could be of interest.

“Are you sure we can find something useful here?” Evari asked as we looked through the weirdly large thrift store.

“Unless one of us has the drive to start crafting artifacts and enchanted weapons, then this is our only option right now.” I said to her while looking at the accessories.

“Don’t you have enough connections to get them?” Evari asked while the others in the store looked at us like we’re out of place. I guess both of us are very pretty, especially me. This place has a somewhat dirty feeling to it despite not being badly maintained. Second-hand items will give off that vibe regardless of the actual quality.

“That’s not the point. I’m trying to see if there are artifacts slipping through the crack all these years. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those museum pieces have more value than being a piece of history.” I said that casually, believing that the other people in the shop wouldn’t take it to heart. They probably do think of me as a hometown hero or something, but that doesn’t mean I stop blurting out some nonsensical sentences from time to time.

I hold up my right arm and fiddle with the bracelet, checking all the accessories here for any fluctuation in mana. Because magical artifacts are meant to activate and help its wearer when needed instead of being active all the time, trying to detect for any shift with just your own senses is nearly impossible unless it’s already worn. Specialized equipment is needed if you’re not a grandmaster when it comes to magic.

“Aha…” I muttered while looking at the holographic screen, showing two items of interest in this batch. It’s like hitting a jackpot to find two diamonds in this pile. “These two rings are it…”

“Those two toy rings?” Evari asked as I took them off the shelf, looking at the rings made out of cheap materials. It might look like fancy rings with large gems, but it’s nothing more than dull plastic.

“Looks like it’ll fit you, at least.” I remarked while looking at its size. “Hopefully one of those plastic armbands has something on it as well, let’s take a look.”

We walked over to another section while the others in the store looked at us with more suspicion. Are they seriously trying to eavesdrop on our conversation? As if they’ll learn anything useful from it.

“Hmm… Nothing here. I guess two were already pushing it. Like I said, for something to be granted enchantment by accident is as rare as it sounds.” I don’t even think this area is ripe with blessings and curses anyway, a bit too ordinary of a place for those phenomena to occur often. “Remember, you’ll pay for it. You’re the one using them, after all.”

“Yeah yeah…” Evari said slightly bitterly. Those two rings won’t provide much for me, and with my connections I could just commission for better artifacts anyway.

“…Actually, with this one, let’s split the pay half-and-half.” I said while looking at the ring with a red gem.

<3: 42 pm>

“<Two items is a good amount, all things considered.>” Idea remarked.

“I know that. She should be good with those. I already sent you the data of those enchantments.” I said while typing, wanting to document this for future reference.

“<A bit of extra mana regen can’t hurt anyone. Does she even have any fire spells in her arsenal?>” Idea asked.

“No. She has lightning and wind spells, but even those are still only on the level of an amateur. I did say to her that she can give it to someone with a fire spell. I’m not all too familiar with everyone’s fighting style.” It’s not really something worth thinking about since my current level means all that would’ve happened is them slowing me down. Learning about synergies and such is pointless at the moment, and I am mostly a brute strength… Skillful and powerful swordplay kind of person. I rarely use any sort of elemental spells that all have various attributes to it. I know I have talent in fire magic, but it’s the least practiced out of all the elemental talent I have. I just don’t like it that much since monsters are pretty resistant to the elements, at least more than humans do. Raw strength is more widely applicable unless you’re really specialized in one specific type of spell, which obviously would’ve compromised your growth in a lot of areas.

“<I guess with your current power level that is simply not on your priority list.>” They said in response. I am kind of in an awkward spot where that is concerned, but I think we talked about that more than enough. “<As thing stands, if you’re not antagonizing anyone, you can coast around for a good while.>”

“Yeah. I still need to train and make sure I keep contact with you and a few other people. I can’t say I am relaxing at the moment.” I said while switching to a different tab and checking the current status of conflicts in the States. “What are you even doing nowadays? I bet you have a lot of free time.”

“<Depending on your definition of one. I have a few small scale projects in mind, but nothing truly spectacular and need a lot of attention.>” They said, sounding quite relaxed. “<For someone like me, a lot can be done in a short amount of time, so it’s hard to call me busy even with a mountain of projects in mind.>”

“Yeah, I get that.” Having a lot of resources and power to speed things up, and with their tone and everything they have done for me specifically, they have a ton of it. This goes beyond having connections like Karra. Both them and Wiina can be considered the source of wealth that I can siphon out of, but using that word feels a bit weird, not because it makes me sound like a parasite, but the fact that it’s probably akin to a billionaire sparing a dollar for a beggar, it doesn’t feel like the ones having their resources drained even felt it. “...By the way, do you even wear any enchanted artifacts on yourself?”

“<Not really. Just don’t really feel like it.>” They said. “<There’s a cap on how much benefit those accessories could pull out, so at some point it provides very little boost. I don’t really lose out much from not wearing any.>”

“Even high grade ones?” I asked.

“<Yeah. It’s best to focus on crafting weapons at that point, since they scale much better to one’s ever increasing power level.>” They answered. “<Maybe for people fighting barehanded you might care more about those accessories, but that’s neither here nor there.>”

“Speaking of which, what do you even fight with? I never saw you fighting during your time as the technician for the stream.” Or even if they did, it was off camera.

“<A staff, usually. I can throw hands if I want to as well, and I know a bit about swordplay.>” They answered. The former is something I just sorta assume, there’s a vibe to them that says they use a staff, but melee and swordplay is not quite what I was expecting. “<Also some marksmanship… I can use almost any weapons, really, but I tend to default to the stuff I listed first.>”

“...Alright then.” Jokes on me for even asking. Now what was I looking through earlier? I think it was something about…

“<Hey, on a different topic, have you heard anything about those ‘illegal’ magic schools?>” Idea suddenly asked.

“Those things? I heard they were popping up in a few areas, obviously unregulated and probably run by fresh faces themselves. I bet if it’s someone like you they would’ve been more lowkey or more open about it.” I said while scrolling and reading this article on my screen.

“<I believe they are doing private tutoring instead of opening up a school. Calling those a school is misleading anyway, there’s only one subject.>” They pointed out. “<While all of them have quite a lot of resources, I would say that not all of them have the management skill to actually make a school, those people already have some experience.>”

“I suppose they are still people, at the end of the day.” I remarked. “...How many of them aren’t humans or demi-humans, actually?”

“<I mean, that’s based on your definition. If you’re just talking about the people I am associated with, a few of them aren’t humans.>” They began explaining. “<Got demons, of course. Also cyborgs if you wanna count those… I think there was also a monster girl? But at that point might as well categorize her as a demon… There’s also a literal angel. Two devils.>”

“What’s the difference between demons and devils?” I asked, wondering why they have to separate those two.

“<Nothing, technically speaking. But there are special individuals that can be said to be true devils. It’s a long story, and the distinction isn’t too important.>” They said, clearly uninterested in elaborating further. “<Anyway, they naturally have much higher computational power than an average person, be it humans or demons or cyborgs. It just comes with the territory of being strong, and you need it to keep up the pace of the battle that is happening at inhuman speed. Even someone like you can probably come up with plans and conclusions way faster than most people.>”

“I bet there’s a plateau somewhere, right? Otherwise more of you guys would’ve been fine with opening up schools or other facilities.” It seems like even those with a lot of power there is still a flaw that comes with being only one person.

“<Of course. Unless you can split your bodies to do everything quickly and smoothly, have some sort of precognition ability or have any absurd mental-related perks, there’s going to be a limit to how much you’re willing to compromise your anonymity and time to do something on a larger scale by yourself.>” They replied. “<There’s also the fact that they just love to laze around and watch the world burn. The experience of being in the fray or being a bystander differs a lot, and they might just like the vibe of one more than the other.>”

“I suppose that is a factor…” It’s like being the reader or the writer. The actor or the audience. The sensation you felt for the same thing is completely different, and one is much more stressful than the other. “...But speaking of facilities, do you think renovations like that could come to the public? That way I don’t have to hole up inside a dungeon all the time just to improve a little bit.”

“<That’s still a long way off, I’m afraid.>” They said with a light chuckle. “<We need a much bigger scale conflict to shake things up, and it’s not here yet.>”

“...Doesn't the mission system in that school have something to do with it? It’s slowing it down a lot, right?” Both of us know about that, and it definitely helps in preventing a lot of headaches.

“<Yeah, but maybe don’t say that out loud. Besides, it’s only calibrated to let students be involved with smaller scale conflicts, so no need to worry. Not to mention the area of influence being only in the States.>” They pointed out. “<We simply need to wait for a good time. Not everyone can coast off powerful people like you do just yet.>”

“Was that callout really necessary?” I wasn’t going to point that out and yet…

“<Hey, I ain’t blaming or shaming you. I think a lot of us can be said to coast off those who could be called protagonists.>” They shamelessly said. “<It’s like a family tree of coasting off. Nothing to be ashamed about. It’s better than bitterly trying to oppose those who were clearly favored>”

“Hmph. You’d have to be a colossal idiot to do that.” Not that I can’t imagine some people being so prideful and shortsighted like that. “Anyway, do you have anything else to say? We have been talking for quite a while now.”

“I’m pretty free at the moment, we can chat for a while longer.” They answered. “I can be both busy and not busy at the same time, but that’s just being semantic.”

“Right…” I said while checking the chatlog about Karra’s impostor.