[Player has activated [Kurta's Sacred Artifact].]
[Player must choose one Hatsu to improve.]
[Suitable Hatsus detected: Arcane Medieval Armory.]
[Since Player only has one Hatsu available to him, Arcane Medieval Armory is chosen by default.]
[Added a new effect to Arcane Medieval Armory.]
Arcane Medieval Armory
Effect: The user can rarely obtain new conjuration skills by defeating strong enemies. These skills allow the conjuration of medieval or fantasy-themed items (no modern or futuristic weapons like guns or grenades).
Effect: Allows the user to upgrade Conjurations at the cost of a Soul Crystal (Huge) or by sacrificing another Conjuration. After the user has paid with Soul Crystals three times, the next upgrade permanently increases the cost by one additional Soul Crystal (Huge).
Effect: After upgrading a Conjuration, the user is allowed to freely choose an upgrade choice. The number of upgrade choices and the increase in potency depend on the rarity and potential of the base skill.
Warning: Upgrading a skill could result in an increased cost or add new limitations.
"What the fuck...?! No!" Alex curses, his face full of regret. "That's... that's all?! My Light Black item... gone?! For that?! It didn't do anything?!"
Princess Jewel is not so sure about that, Soulmate! Soulmate can upgrade his Conjurations! That's incredible. The cost of sacrificing any Conjuration might sound harsh, but Soulmate now has a way to recycle trash Conjurations.
He can also use Soul Crystals... though Princess Jewel is in awe of the cost. A huge Soul Crystal? So Soulmate requires five large Soul Crystals? Those cost 500,000 FC each... so a single upgrade to Soulmate's Conjurations can be bought for 2,5 million FC.
"And after relying on Soul Crystals three times, the cost doubles to 5 million.... then 7.5 after six times...." Alex laments.
"Man... I'm really a permanent member of the broke gang. Whatever I find, it's never enough," Alex whines, before slapping his cheeks. "Still... you are right... gotta think positively! Thankfully, Mustrano is gone because the way for him to eat more has magically appeared out of nothing. Is that my LUK at work?"
Princess Jewel fears that Soulmate has to become a criminal to earn FC to support himself and Princess Jewel.
A smooth criminal.
"Okay, enough references for today, Jewel..." Alex says, now slightly annoyed.
Robbing a bank sounds easy compared to finding a loophole in the damn system. Should I try to blackmail players? Should I collect protection money?
Doesn't sound promising.
True....
Maybe scamming noobs? Like, give me 1 Soul Crystal, and I'll give you two in return? Don't worry, we'll use a contract so you can be sure that I'm telling the truth, and then we get him to pay us 1 Medium Soul Crystal and return him two Small ones since we didn't specify what Soul Crystals we are talking about?
While Princess Jewel is incredibly impressed by Soulmate's intelligence and sense for good business, doing that would worsen Soulmate's Reputation even more and maybe get him blacklisted by most players. It could also affect his Two Peasant Supporters.
That's true as well... fine.
Still wondering, Alex shakes his head. "Let's... forget about it for now. No time to waste, let's shard some items on the way to the Eternal Coffins."
Walking through the Realm, Alex sees a couple of people staring at him, his face having become a known quantity by now, with most people seemingly afraid of him.
Princess Jewel thinks the contest arranged by the Seekers has spread around. These Peasants are looking at Soulmate like he's a monster.
Could also be the giant, chunky spider on my head... but it's best I keep that to myself.
Back at the familiar place, Alex sees the area bustling for once as he enters the large building.
Every single cabin used for Sharding or Ranking up items is currently occupied, and even a small line has formed, with over ten players queuing up.
Usually I'd wordlessly line up and then complain silently... but... no time for that! I have a lot of things to do.
Is Soulmate gonna cut in line? That's unexpectedly petty. Princess Jewel loves it. ❤️
Seeing someone leave a cabin, Alex wordlessly passes the first player in line, glares at him, and then enters the empty cabin, the mysterious-looking stone door closing behind him. The entire line of players looks gobsmacked at Alex's rude behavior, but nobody dares to speak up.
Gray & Unranked: X/X
White: 1/X
Light-Green: 2/4
Green: 3/6
Deep–Green: 4/8
Light-Blue 7/14
Blue: 10/20
Deep-Blue: 15/30
Light-Purple: 25/50
Purple: 40/80
Deep-Purple: 60/120
Light-Gold: 100/200
Gold: 150/300
Deep-Gold 200/400
Because Alex only has White and Green items to shard, despite the insane number of them, he's left with just 105 shards for his efforts, worth around 210,000 FC depending on the ever-changing, yet somehow stable exchange rate.
"That makes a total of... 235 shards," Alex counts. "Still missing a lot to upgrade another Deep Gold item. I need to rank up my damn [Hlökk's Divine Gloves (Remnant)]. At this rate, it isn't even worth setting aside my set."
Soulmate was too ambitious with replacing his set this early. Princess Jewel deems it unrealistic.
"Maybe... a lot of the stuff I found this time I used myself. The four skillbooks, the gloves, the boots, and the [Upgrade Token] are all things I reserved for myself and can't quite sell yet. We need to wait. In fact, I have just two items I can really sell... that's not looking good... should I sell Soul Crystals? No, what am I even saying... I need more of them, not less of them! I need to exchange them to craft a huge one to upgrade my Conjurations... but I'm lacking so much. I need a way to earn FC... a lot of FC!"
Disappointed, Alex decides to leave for now.
As he exits the cabin, the line is even longer now, and as he tries to leave, a man approaches him.
"Excuse me, sir, I'm from the Players Association! You can't just cut in line; that's against the rules we've established... I think you just didn't know, so for now I'm just informing you. This is not a warning yet, but you need to pay more attention to the rule—"
"Haha," Alex laughs, clapping the man on the shoulder as he passes him. "That's a good one. Man, I wish I had time to appreciate it. Sorry, I can't tip; I'm broke."
All these Peasant Comedians are not making any sense to Princess Jewel.
"..." Leaving them behind, Alex swiftly walks over to the Eternal Coffins.
"Thankfully, Glimmerwhisk is a damn no-lifer as well, and she's as good as always home. I can appreciate that kinda lifestyle," Alex comments.
Princess Jewel agrees! She even has the desire to build a large, beautiful, and comfortable web, despite not liking them in the past.
"That's... some improvement, I guess? You are regaining your honor as a spider... as long as you are not dragging me into it. I hate webs." Alex tells her immediately.
No! If Princess Jewel is constructing the best web castle in existence, Soulmate must join her.
"Forget it!" Alex states, seeing the large Goblin Bank in front of them, with countless small goblins going in and out.
Alex comfortably enters it, but to his disappointment, he does not see Softspark.
However, he's almost immediately approached by another female goblin, smiling at him.
"Hey there!" she says cheerfully. "So cool to meet you two. Lady Softspark has instructed me to take care of you."
"Lady Softspark?" Alex wonders.
"She's been promoted. While she's still Lady Glimmerwhisk's assistant, she's now heading independent projects as well. I am Moss, nice to meet you," she says, stretching out her small green hand.
Alex lowers himself and gently shakes it. "Uhm, hello, Miss Moss," he replies.
The name sounds... a little worse in comparison. Don't even say the word Jewel; I'm serious this time. It's definitely true, but it's just mean.
"My parents were dumb cave-dwelling hicks, if you wonder about my name. Some goblins still live in the... how would you humans call it? Stone Age?" Moss explains, a little regret noticeable under her friendly facade.
"Yeah, that... that word works," Alex says. "I like you; you are easy to talk to and understand. If I weren't so frigging broke, I would even tip you."
"You can always remember it when you're having better times," Moss cheekily replies.
Princess Jewel does not like Moss.
It's wet and slimy, and irritating, and it sticks everywhere. Not like Princess Jewel's web, which is soft... and smooth.
"Hihihihi," Moss giggles loudly, catching everyone's attention. "I like that meme so much, Jewel. You have excellent taste."
"..."
"Your weak, copy-pasted, barely tweaked meme lost some of its impact there," Alex can't help but say.
Princess Jewel has to agree... perhaps she should choose more fringe memes that are unknown to Goblins.
Still smiling, she turns around and slowly walks through the Goblin Bank. "Let me lead you to our treasured CEO."
"CEO?" Alex wonders.
"Isn't that what you humans call them?" she wonders, leading them to Glimmerwhisk's office.
Stopping at Glimmerwhisk's door in the back, she smiles at Alex. "Have fun, you two, see you in a bit!"
In a bit? We have a lot of things to discuss, and Glimmerwhisk doesn't seem like the busy type. I expect a long meeting.
She then walks back to the lobby, a visible spring in her step.
Alex sighs and enters the room.
Glimmerwhisk is sitting on her bed, Alex's gaze immediately drawn to the large stacks of documents piled up everywhere... except for a small space where she is sitting. Not wearing a regal outfit like usual, she is dressed in a worn-out pyjama, her hair messy, and her eyes puffy. In fact, the entire room is filled with documents, and Alex sees almost nothing else.
"Why, hello there," Alex says as he steps inside. "Finished your homework yet, little missy? If you don't pass the class, I'm afraid I'll have to ground you."
Glimmerwhisk looks up, and her face is filled with such indescribable fury and frustration that Alex genuinely feels like pissing himself. However, steeled by his recent death battles, Alex fearlessly steps forward.
"Why so grumpy? Are you on your period? I can offer you a [Blood Essence] if you're running low on juice and need to fill up," Alex jokes. "He... hehe."
That was a good one.
Princess Jewel wants to laugh, but she is too scared to even look at her.
"In fact... I am," she says with an icy-cold glare.
Hearing something invisible snap, Alex stands in front of her, feeling more than a little silly, his confidence replaced by shame.
"..."
Uff... walked right into that one. I should really just shut the fuck up sometimes... Maybe Jewel's ever-growing toxicity is rubbing off on me.
Soulmate is just making excuses.
Did I think that out loud?
No, but Princess Jewel could guess anyway.
"Sorry about that," Alex says, rubbing his head.
"Sit down!" she yells.
"Where?" Alex asks, looking around and not seeing any free space.
"SIT!" she repeats, even louder.
Alex sighs and just awkwardly sits down in front of her bed, now having to look up at her.
This place sucks.
Jewel slowly climbs off Alex's head and wants to crawl towards Glimmerwhisk, but she stares right at the spider.
"Jewel... you've gained weight! I don't have the strength or space to take care of you if you're like this."
💔💔💔
"What is going on?" Alex asks, trying to break the ice. "Why so much work?"
"Spies... and a huge project. I can't trust anyone. This is just my part; the less important parts of the project are handled by others. I'll be busy for the next few weeks," she explains, still reading.
"Yeah, if I can help... just say so. Maybe I can send you Benezia; she seems like the paper pusher type." Alex offers.
"I can't... though your offer is appreciated. What do you want? As I said, I'm afraid I can't spare much time or offer much help," Glimmerwhisk comments.
"Jewel's Crown... is almost fully broken. I'm afraid she won't last until the next mission. I was wondering if you could help," Alex says.
"Now that you mention it, I just blurted it out, but she has grown... unnaturally fast," Glimmerwhisk says, looking at the still heartbroken Jewel sulking on Alex's head.
She puts a few documents to the side and now stares at Alex.
"Let me think..."
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