Chapter 54: Precious Artifact Hall (3)

Linked to “My Body Information.

Manager Mi’s description of my skill as “unique” stung a little, but it wasn’t entirely wrong. As she pointed out, the Ascending Dragon Divine Fist (Copy) was a martial art skill I alone possessed. I had assumed there would be no items that could synergize with it.

Who would have thought that a weapon once wielded by the founder of the Soaring Dragon Divine Fist would synergize with my skill?

But that wasn’t all.

A new Status Window overlaid the item information display.

A new Synchronization Rate Quest has been activated.

“A quest?”

This was the first time a quest had been triggered by achieving a Synchronization Rate milestone.

Manager Mi, who shared my Status Window, spoke up.

Of course, quest-like features had existed before. If I reached the Synchronization Rate target faster than the allotted time, I’d receive a special reward: an additional upgrade to one of my Status Window’s functions.

Strictly speaking, that was a type of quest, and I’d always treated it as one. But this was the first time I’d received such a blatant assignment.

So, what was the information for this newly activated quest?

This is beyond strange; it’s utterly incomprehensible. A skill that arbitrarily unlocks or upgrades Status Window functions? What kind of mechanism could possibly be behind that…?

Well, figuring that out is Manager Mi’s problem.

After obtaining the Remnants of the Great Evil, I checked the newly updated Synchronization Rate goal.

For now, I still have plenty of time.

Given the enticing reward at stake…

I absolutely must get my hands on that Dragon Spirit Iron Wire.

My gaze fell upon the mangled pile of scrap metal.

The fact that its durability was exhausted and it was broken didn’t matter.

The problem was…

…this is an unsellable item.

Its value as an item was zero.

However, these artifacts were originally displayed to commemorate the achievements of the 1st Generation Hunters, making it impossible to assign them a monetary value in the first place.

Since Che Yerim, the manager of the Precious Artifact Hall, prioritized practical gain over honor and prestige, there was a slim chance she might part with it if offered a tempting enough deal.

There’s no immediate rush, so I should take my time to consider this carefully.

With plenty of time to spare, I could be content with the information I’d gathered for now.

I could think about acquiring the knuckles after the Necromancy Sparring.

As I turned away from the weapons of the 1st Generation Hunters, a sharp voice rang out from the entrance of the Precious Artifact Hall.

“No, you need to be reasonable!”

It was Che Yerim.

I strode toward the entrance where her voice was coming from. Soon, Che Yerim came into view, standing with her arms crossed and a cold expression on her face. A group of men stood before her.

Those guys…

I narrowed my eyes, taking in their attire.

The man wore a faded blue work uniform. On one side of his chest was embroidered the emblem of two flags flanking a single eye.

HyunAn.

A commercial guild composed of non-combat Awakened individuals, and Korea’s foremost authority on item appraisal.

“Speak up, Vice Guild Leader Kang Yongseok,” Che Yerim snapped, her voice sharp as if she had forgotten I was even there.

The appraiser at the front scratched his head. He was a man with a bright red, strawberry nose and a scruffy beard. He cleared his throat awkwardly and began, “Well, President, it’s not like we want to be late. There are just a lot of items with high appraisal difficulty, which takes time. Yongman-ah, bring one over.”

Kang Yongseok received a small crystal orb from a guild member and handed it to Che Yerim.

“It takes two of our guild members an hour just to appraise one of these things. President Shinwa really loaded us up with these kinds of items this time, you know? Every single one is a real pain in the ass to appraise.”

”…You already used that as an excuse to push back the inspection completion date by two days. And we paid you extra for the extension.”

With that, Che Yerim coldly flicked away the crystal orb Kang Yongseok had offered her.

Thud. Roll, roll.

The orb rolled across the floor and came to a stop precisely at my feet.

As I picked it up and examined it, Che Yerim spoke again.

“And now you’re changing your mind again? Don’t you have any sense of professional ethics?”

“Ah, in that case, I’ll refund the extra payment for the two days.”

“What on earth…!”

“I’m already swamped, you know? CEO Shinwa personally requested this, so we mobilized the entire guild to take it on. It’s clear he has no idea how tough things are in this industry.” Kang Yongseok waved his hand dismissively.

Che Yerim froze, a look of utter disbelief on her face.

Of course, even with CEO Shinwa standing right there, Kang Yongseok and the Hyunahn Guild members remained stubbornly unyielding.

”…Please return to the appraisal room for now. I’ll consider this and get back to you.” In the end, Che Yerim spoke first.

Kang Yongseok and the Hyunahn Guild members exchanged glances before nodding in unison.

“Fine. But we don’t have much time either. We’d appreciate an answer within the hour.”

”…”

“Let’s just get this over with quickly. It seems the President has other guests today.”

Kang Yongseok said this, giving me a quick once-over. With a wave of his hand, he led the Hyunahn Guild members toward the elevator and disappeared.

As the commotion faded, Che Yerim finally turned her attention to me. “Ah, Taejun-ssi. Did you find what you were looking for?”

Her puppy-like face wore a smile, but she couldn’t hide the deep fatigue in her eyes.

“Yes.”

“Let me see… So, these are indeed holy-attribute items. But…” Her eyes widened as she checked inside the duffel bag. “What’s this? This isn’t just a regular duffel bag, is it?”

“Yes, it’s an item with the Subspace Storage Skill.”

“Taejun, you must have more money than I thought. Items with the Subspace Storage Skill cost at least several hundred million won, as far as I know.”

With current real-world technology, it’s impossible to embed the Subspace Storage Skill into such a small bag. Therefore, items with this skill can only be obtained from dungeons, and they sell for exorbitant prices regardless of their grade.

That’s right. At Parsley Market, it would only cost 500,000 won. Of course, its limited capacity of around 100 kilograms also contributed to the low price.

Seeing my sly grin, Che Yerim didn’t press further and resumed inspecting the contents of the duffel bag.

Che Yerim’s face remained stunned.

And for good reason.

”…No, Taejun. How many items did you put in there?”

“Well, to start, there are about a hundred holy grenades. Then there’s a crossbow crafted by the Greek Orthodox Church with a hundred bolts, ten blessed crucifixes, and…”

”…”

Yerim, who had been staring blankly with her mouth agape, finally asked, “Taejun, are you planning to wage war against an undead legion or something?”

“Something like that is planned.”

She gave up on pressing further and turned her gaze away from the duffel bag.

“Hmm, since these are just readily available A-grade items, there’s no need to charge you separately. Just take them.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yeah, after everything Taejun’s done for us, this is nothing. Just take it.”

Well, if that’s the case, there’s no reason to refuse.

I re-secured the duffel bag and, gazing at the crystal orb in my hand, casually remarked, “It seems you’ve run into some troublesome complications.”

“Yes, things just ended up this way,” Che Yerim sighed, her eyes fixed on the spot where the Hyunahn Guild members had vanished. “We looted quite a few Special Sealed Artifacts during this month’s regular Guild Expedition.”

Just as I suspected.

Otherwise, there would have been no need to outsource the task to the Hyunahn Guild.

I mumbled a reply, barely audible to Che Yerim:

“Items with hidden functions and information.”

These artifacts remain dormant, their true capabilities locked until appraised using skills like Appraisal. Until then, they’re nothing more than empty shells, trash masquerading as valuable items.

“Not necessarily,” I replied.

While it’s true that most high-quality items are Special Sealed Artifacts, not all Special Sealed Artifacts are treasures. Far more often, you’ll spend time and money on appraisal only to discover it’s just a piece of junk wrapped in a black plastic bag.

So, why go to the expense of hiring an appraiser?

Exactly.

To put it simply, it’s like a lottery.

There’s always that rare chance of uncovering a Unique-grade Artifact, one of a kind in the world.

“Not entirely.”

Special Sealed Artifacts cannot be sold commercially until their information is verified.

All items routinely obtained from dungeons must be registered in the International Federation Headquarters’ system.

Unidentified items can’t be registered at all.

Therefore, selling them before appraisal is legally prohibited.

That’s why even the mighty Shinwa Guild has no choice but to outsource this work.

“Ugh, still… they’re two days past the promised deadline, and now they’re demanding extra fees for each item? It’s highway robbery!”

Che Yerim clicked her tongue, though she already knew this was coming. The Hyunahn Guild’s notoriously shady business practices were infamous in the industry.

Yet appraisal requests never stopped flowing. Despite their questionable ethics, their appraisers were among the best in Korea, rivaled only by a handful of others.

“So, are you planning to meet their demands?”

“I’m not sure. We’ve already prepaid an amount equivalent to what we’d get from selling several A-grade items. If we pay more now, we’ll take a huge loss.”

Even if Che Yerim demanded a refund of the deposit and kicked them out now, it would be impossible to find enough appraisers to identify and merchandise the stockpile of unidentified items within the product preparation timeframe. Moreover, there wasn’t another appraisal guild available to outsource the task to. Che Yerim was truly caught between a rock and a hard place.

Because of this, I stared at the crystal orb in my hand before offering it to her.

“President, would you mind taking a look at this?”

“A look?” Che Yerim gazed at the orb with a puzzled expression, then her eyes widened.

“Huh?”

It was inevitable. Just moments ago, when Kang Yongseok had shown the orb to Che Yerim, it had still been unidentified.

Naturally, she shouldn’t have been able to see any information about it.

“I can see the item’s information…?”

Yet there it was, clear as day, floating beside the crystal ball: the item’s function and details.

“Taejun, did you appraise it already?”

“That’s right.”

“Taejun… you even have an Appraisal Skill? No, even if you did, this is way too fast.”

Che Yerim stared blankly at the crystal ball, her mouth slightly agape.

The time it takes to appraise an item varies wildly depending on the skill’s level, the item’s grade, and the appraiser’s own proficiency.

However, the average appraisal time for a Special Sealed Artifact is roughly 50 minutes per item.

On the other hand, less than ten minutes had passed between when I picked up the crystal ball and handed it back to Che Yerim.

Of course, the actual appraisal process took only ten seconds.

I didn’t need to bother using an Appraisal Skill or channeling Mana to meticulously analyze its complex structure.

All I had to do was hover the Current Status Window over the item, and the analysis would complete automatically.

My only lingering question had been whether the information I obtained through the Current Status Window’s advanced features would be shared with others.

Che Yerim’s reaction had now completely resolved that doubt.

The information was indeed shared.

With that settled, there was nothing holding me back.

“President,” I said, meeting Che Yerim’s gaze. “I have a proposal for you.”