Chapter 52: Appraiser

Returning to the guest room, Richard locked the door and drew the curtains.

He took the copper coin and the incense burner from his leather pouch, setting them side by side on the nightstand's velvet top.

The Gargoyle crouched on the corner of the desk, jaws open toward the room, its ferocious expression carrying a certain artistic flair.

This stone carving had been in his possession for nearly two days.

The night he brought it back from his grandfather's study, he had held the Gargoyle in his arms while he slept.

The half-turn of the seal his grandfather had loosened acted like a dripping faucet, letting ether bleed continuously through the crack.

The first night, he absorbed about 0.4. During the second day, he held it on and off a few more times, bringing the number up to around 0.7.

Before heading out today, he had clutched it for a while longer, ultimately reaching a total of about 0.82.

[Available Points: 1.32]

By now, the seepage rate had noticeably slowed. There was barely any ether left to leak.

He was in no rush to handle it further, turning his attention instead to the two new items he had acquired today.

He picked up the copper coin first. The moment his thumb pressed against it, the Panel reacted.

He held the copper coin in his palm, found a comfortable position against the headboard, and waited.

The points slowly climbed at a rate of about 0.01 per minute.

The copper coin's sealing structure was relatively simple. It was likely a standard commercial seal applied by Donner himself, ensuring the supernatural items on his shelves wouldn't leak ether while in storage.

The strength of a commercial seal couldn't compare to a priest's inscribed seal or the silver-based inscriptions used by Mr. Hutton.

Without the shop's environmental reinforcement, it was like taking a block of ice out of a freezer and leaving it at room temperature.

It didn't melt fast, but it was melting all the same.

He switched hands, continuing to hold it while recalling the exact phrasing Donner had used to quote prices.

Six pounds for the copper coin, seven pounds for the incense burner.

Donner had spent a long time examining the copper coin's minting marks and rust with a magnifying glass, and had turned the incense burner over and over, tapping it repeatedly.

When his grandfather evaluated the Gargoyle in the study, he had also relied on sight and touch, supplemented by experienced deductions about the artifact's history.

When Mr. Hutton reinforced the basement seal, he had judged its decay by observing the blurred silver inscriptions and degraded wax.

Three people in three different scenarios, and all of them relied on indirect methods.

Not one of them had pulled out an instrument, scanned the ether field or the supernatural item, and announced an exact number:

"The ether content here is X units."

Appendix C was very clear on the subject of ether: it was colorless, odorless, and undetectable by any instrument.

Instruments couldn't measure it, and human perception was equally vague.

The exception was something like the Fire Worship Temple Pillar in Donner's back room, where the massive ether accumulation formed an independent field around the artifact, tight enough to compress the chest of anyone walking near it.

The copper coin grew colder in his palm, its ether residue fading at an accelerating rate.

About ten minutes later, the rate abruptly plummeted. The coin was nearly empty.

[Available Points: 1.81]

He deliberately left a tiny bit of ether inside rather than draining it completely, then set the copper coin on the nightstand.

It was common knowledge that ether naturally decayed once a supernatural item left the protective environment of a seal.

But what if he drained the copper coin completely dry, leaving it as inert as a newly unearthed stone?

That would be completely abnormal.

Leaving a trace of ether inside served as a layer of camouflage.

From the outside, the copper coin was still a copper coin, and the supernatural item was still a supernatural item.

Only he knew it had been squeezed until nothing but dregs remained.

He committed this principle to memory:

From now on, whenever he handled a supernatural item, he would stop after absorbing ninety-five percent. He would never drain one dry.

That remaining five percent translated to a negligible amount of points. The value of leaving it far outweighed taking that final bite.

With that settled, he picked up the incense burner.

Although the incense burner's seepage rate started off fast, it quickly slowed.

Just as he had pointed out at the counter, the lid of this incense burner was a later replacement, and its base had been modified.

A complete, original incense burner from a Sufi sanctuary, steeped in centuries of rituals, should contain significantly more ether than the copper coin.

But with this repaired incense burner... he had a rather pessimistic premonition.

Just like with the copper coin, he stopped when it neared the bottom, avoiding draining it completely.

[Available Points: 2.23]

The more expensive incense burner actually contained less ether.

The incense burner was larger, looked more intact, had a more direct ritual association, and possessed a more aged appearance.

The copper coin was small, thin, heavily worn, and made from a copper-mixed alloy.

Every observable external metric pointed to the same conclusion: the incense burner should be better.

But ether didn't care about outward appearances. It depended on the depth and continuity of the contamination.

Richard got off the bed, walked over to the sink, and turned on the faucet.

Cold water poured over his hands, washing away most of the rust and dirt left by the copper coin and the incense burner.

As he scrubbed the built-up carbon from between his fingers, his mind turned to his future development.

His cheat ability required a massive consumption of supernatural items; this was an undeniable fact.

As his demand for points grew, the frequency and quantity of supernatural items he needed would only increase.

According to what Vincent had mentioned during their idle chat in the carriage:

After establishing an Ether Micro-circulation, practitioners would slowly absorb the ether seeping from a supernatural item through daily meditation and breathing method practices, replenishing their own consumption.

It was like a jug of aged wine; others would take a small sip every day and make it last for half a year.

In his hands, he was chugging it openly, draining it in minutes.

That was exactly where the problem lay.

If he took the normal route—spending money to buy supernatural items, draining them dry, and buying new ones—the cost would be outrageously high.

Moreover, just as he had considered earlier, hoarding a massive stockpile of completely drained supernatural items would not only attract unwanted attention but also waste resources.

The more he thought about it, the clearer his plans for the future became.

What if he became an appraiser—or, taking a step back, started out as a middleman?

Helping people appraise, flip, or proxy buy and sell meant that every supernatural item he handled would stay in his hands for a while.

During that downtime, the Panel would go to work.

He wouldn't need to drain them dry; skimming a portion off the top would be enough.

The remaining ether would still exist within the supernatural item. The buyer could use it however they pleased, leaving the transaction completely unaffected.

After all, something like ether was impossible to accurately measure or appraise. As long as he wasn't too excessive about it, drawing away a portion would go unnoticed.

This way, he could snag a free chunk of points from every single transaction.

The greater the volume he handled, the more points he would accumulate.

Buying items outright was a one-time deal; acting as a middleman was a steady stream.

Buying outright spent his own money, while brokering spent other people's money—and he would even collect a commission on top of it.

The role of a middleman would also allow him continuous access to supernatural items of various eras, origins, and types of contamination.

This perfectly formed a positive feedback loop with the experience accumulation for his [Wisdom] category of skills.

The more items he handled, the broader his knowledge would become, and the stronger his appraisal abilities would grow.

The higher-end the commissions he took on, the better the quality of the supernatural items he handled, and the more points the Panel could extract.

Points drove skill upgrades, skill upgrades elevated his appraisal ability, and his appraisal ability brought in more high-end commissions.

Once this flywheel started spinning, it would only spin faster and faster.

But this path had a prerequisite: he first had to become a middleman or appraiser recognized by the market.

No one was going to hand over valuable items to a nameless youth.