Fortification skill!
I had earned the right to use the Jewels of Fortification.
Of course just getting the right did not mean I could freely use the Jewels of Fortification as I pleased. Even if I used it now, there is a high chance of failure because my skill level is too low.
[Fortification Skill: Beginner 0%]
There are two methods of raising the fortification skill.
The fastest way is to use Jewels of Fortification and attempt to strengthen things. But you have to waste too many Jewels of Fortification for that.
The other way is to increase the skill level of Jewel Alchemy. Then the fortification skill’s level will rise together with it.
And if Jewel Alchemy gets past level 7, the success rate for fortification will exponentially increase even if the fortification skill is at a low level.
“Human. I am guessing you plan on challenging to become a Best Blacksmith?”
Bangart asked the question.
Is there even a need to ask?
I nodded my head without hesitation.
Bangart immediately handed me the first quest for the Best Blacksmith occupation as if he had been waiting for my response.
‘Oh, friendliness with the fairies!’
A friendliness of 100 is an extremely high amount. Just raising it by 20 made my Jewel Alchemy level shoot up.
But I need to push this quest back a bit. If I wanted to do it I could fortify my equipment now, but the chances of failure are too high.
Jewels of Fortification are too precious to waste like that.
I will go do some more Demon Cave clearing until I get the guardian spirit for the Peria quest. My success rate should go up significantly at that point.
I will attempt to fortify a weapon at that point.
Then shall I head back to s.h.i.+one?
But there was something I needed to take care of first. It was related to Chubach’s Solar Blade.
Goonto was still completely mesmerized by the Solar Blade. He was even caressing it with extreme sincerity.
I extended my hand out to Goonto.
Goonto saw my hand and lifted his head up. He did not seem very happy.
He must have finally remembered something after a bit.
“Ah, Shadow Fox! It has been completed for about a week.”
Goonto took the Shadow Fox’s Leather Armor out of his bag and handed it to me.
[Shadow Fox’s Leather Armor Set]
Armor, pants, gloves, boots, and helmet make the set.
Made with the Shadow Fox’s hide, as well as the Golden Alligator hide and Midnight Black scales.
Durability: 186/186
Defense: 115
Restriction: Level 300
*Agility +41
*Magic Resistance +28
*Toughness +50
*Special ability: Stealthy Approach S-Rank, Evasion S-Rank
*Special skill: Dark Force (Cooltime 1 hour)
I started to smile after reading the information. It
was an upgraded version of the Skywolf’s Leather Armor in all aspects. In addition, the fact that it has the Shadow Fox’s special skill, Dark Force, makes it ranked even higher.
Most importantly, I liked the +50 to toughness. It is a perfect addition for me. How could I remain stoic when it was such a good armor?
If I go into a Demon Cave wearing this, the clearing time will significantly decrease.
I immediately changed into the Shadow Fox’s Armor Set. I was never happy with this current armor because I just randomly bought it at a store.
“Feels nice. Thank you.”
“I’m glad that you like it.”
Goonto had a satisfied expression.
It was a common trait in dwarf blacksmiths. If they manage to create a great piece, they feel just as happy as the person using it.
Then there is just one more thing.
I reached my hand out back to Goonto.
Goonto had a confused expression.
“What else? Is there anything else I need to give you?”
I pointed at the Solar Blade in Goonto’s hand.
“That’s mine. You have to return it if you are done looking at it.”
Goonto’s face turned pale almost instantly.
“What? This is a Dwarf Treasure.”
“You seem to have the wrong idea. I told you that I will find it, I never said I will give it to the dwarves. Nor did the quest tell me I had to give it either.”
“Gasp!”
“This……!”
Not only Goonto, but the rest of the dwarves including Bangart could not close their dropped jaws in shock. They finally recalled the quest information.
All of them looked anxious.
Goonto seemed especially anxious. This was the first time I’ve seen him not looking confident.
Goonto hesitated for a long time before hiding the Solar Blade behind him.
“How much will it be?”
What the heck? I already have plenty of money.
“I’m not selling it.”
“I also cannot hand this over to a human.”
“What do you mean hand over? I am just asking you to return what is mine. Are you planning on stealing a friend’s belonging?”
“Then what is it you want? Please. This is a Dwarf treasure. You know that as well.”
Of course I know.
Furthermore, I really don’t have any interest in the Solar Blade. It may be an amazing treasure for the dwarves, but it is a useless piece of metal to me.
Of course the story will change later. I really need that Solar Blade when I go to rescue Akto’s Soul.
I just need to briefly use it for that.
I’m just acting in order to get a couple more things from the dwarves.
“If you want it that much, I can let you borrow it with some conditions. However, you cannot forget
forget that the owners.h.i.+p lies with me.”
They still do not seem happy.
But they cannot reject this offer. At least the dwarves will get to keep the Solar Blade.
“What are your conditions?”
“I was able to recover something that the dwarves were unable to find. So the dwarves need to get something that I cannot get on my own.”
“And what is that?”
“The Five-Colored Jewels.”
The Dwarves are a race that specialize in mining and blacksmithing. They are much more skilled at finding the Five-Colored Jewels.
With the Dwarves’ help, I should be able to get enough of the jewels I want.
But they did not seem too happy. Even dwarves could not find the five-colored jewels that easily.
Of course, they have no issues getting Jewels of Creation of Jewels of Luck.
But the Chaos Jewel and Jewel of Wisdom are difficult to find even for dwarves. [TL: Guess it really should have been Jewel of Chaos to go with the rest…whoops]
“Of course, I will pay the normal price for them. And I will extend the loan period based on the number of jewels you find. I can even hand over owners.h.i.+p if you find a lot of good jewels for me.”
“What? You will transfer the owners.h.i.+p?”
Goonto’s expression instantly changed. Those jewels were just, ‘money,’ related things, but the Solar Blade was not something that you could buy with money.
“I am still friends with the Dwarves. I do not only think about my own greed.”
“Fine. Come with me.”
‘What? They’re going to give it to me right now?’
I followed behind Goonto. Bangart and some other dwarves walked with us as well.
Goonto headed to a pretty deep underground cave. The long cave had many doors with numbers on them. It seemed to be an underground storage room.
Dwarves holding weapons were lined up throughout the cave.
Goonto stood in front of door 185. A dwarf blocked their way, but opened the door after Goonto and Bangart spoke with him for a while.
“Enter.”
I entered through the door.
It really was a storage room. The walls and ceiling were finished well to look like a human bas.e.m.e.nt.
There were shelves on the walls and color-coordinated boxes were stacked up on the shelves.
Goonto opened up a red box and opened the lid.
‘Wow! These are all Jewels of Luck?’
There were over 1,000 of them.
There seemed to be at least 10 of those red boxes.
That should mean the color of the box should be the color o the jewel, and the spotted one should be Chaos Jewels while the blue boxes should have Jewels of Fortification.
Goonto looked at my expression and asked with expectation.
“Will this be enough?”
What? Does he really think he
think he can take Chubach’s Solar Blade with only 1000 jewels of Luck?
Of course it is a lot, but I can buy a ton of these in the human world as long as I have money.
Furthermore, I also brought back a ton of Jewels of Luck that Jonnan, Batoom and crew mined for me when I went to visit the Northern Mines. I still have plenty to last a while.
“I can easily get these on my own.”
Goonto started to frown.
“Then what about this?”
This time, he opened up the spotted box and the blue box. They naturally had Chaos Jewels and Jewels of Fortification.
But there were not many of them. There were only one of each box as well.
There were especially low number of Chaos Jewels. The box was large but there were only six jewels in there.
‘I guess they really are precious in the Dwarf Village as well.’
There were a decent number of Jewels of Fortification, about 100 of them.
You could never have enough Chaos Jewels.
But I didn’t need that many Jewels of Fortification. I won’t need it once I fortify my equipment. But I do need ones with high fortification indexes.
“I do like the Chaos Jewels. I can extend the Solar Blade’s loan period based on the search index. But I cannot hand over the owners.h.i.+p rights with just this.”
“Then what do you need?”
Why do you ask when you already know the answer? There is only one type of jewel left.
“Two Jewels of Wisdom. With that, I will hand over the owners.h.i.+p rights.”
“Jewels of Wisdom! Even we do not have any of those in stock.”
“Talk to the other villages. This isn’t the only Dwarf Village. Chubach’s Solar Blade is the treasure for all Dwarves. Should’t you work together for something like this?”
“But ……”
I’m sure it won’t be easy. The Dwarves would not be living like this if they could work together.
But I did not give them a chance for compromise. I am the one holding the blade right now.
“If you don’t have the ability, you can only give up on the Solar Blade.”
“Ah, I understand. I will contact the other villages. However, leave the Solar Blade here.”
“Then I will take those Chaos Jewels and a couple Jewels of Fortification for now.”
“Leave two Chaos Jewels behind. There are times we need them as well.”
“Sure.”
I grabbed four Chaos Jewels and twelve Jewels of Fortification in my hand.
[Chaos Jewel: Search Index 14]
[Chaos Jewel: Search Index 13]
······
[Jewel of Fortification: Fortification Index 9%]
[Jewel of Fortification: Fortification Index 9%]
······
The Jewels of Fortification were pretty good. The Fortification index never goes higher than 20%.
Since it would have been reduced have been reduced by half by coming in contact with my hand, the fortification index would have been close to max to start.
But I was extremely disappointed by the Chaos Jewels.
“What? Why are all the search indexes so low?”
“Chaos Jewels are normally like that. There are not many Chaos Jewels with a search index higher than 30.”
I know that the search index for Chaos Jewels are generally low.
But they averaged at least 30.
Plus, aren’t the dwarves a tribe of miners? I thought they would be able to mine much better Chaos Jewels.
The already low search index dropped by half by coming into contact with my hand.
Disappointing. I also could not use Jewel Alchemy on it. Chaos Jewels have a low success rate, so it would not be a good idea.
Nothing I can do about it. I can only be satisfied with this since I pretty much got it for free.
“I will come back soon. By then, I should be able to fortify equipment, so if there are any equipment you want fortified, have them ready.”
“I understand. Where will you be heading now?”
Why are you asking someone else’s plan? You think I have nowhere to go?
I just have one place to visit before going back to meet up with s.h.i.+one and restart the Demon Cave Clearing Squad.
“Just wherever the wind blows wherever the clouds go.”
I casually said that as I jumped into the temple’s portal.
The Dwarf priest in charge of the temple portal asked.
“Where is your final destination?”
Ah! I heard that the Dwarf Temple’s portal can take you to your final destination at once. Even the magic tribe Shapir needed the Dwarves’ high blacksmith skills so they gave them this perk.
This is great. Normally I would have had to use multiple portals to get there.
I simply answered.
“Oolbat.”
“W, what? Where is your destination?”
The Dwarf priest asked again as if they heard wrong.
It makes sense since that is not somewhere just anybody can go. It is somewhere you will quickly be chased out of if you went there by mistake.
But I confidently answered once more.
“Oolbat. The village of the Shapir Tribe.” [1]
“You are going to go there? Why?”
Is there a reason for you to know that? You think I’m going there just for fun?
“Just send me there. I will pay enough for the portal usage.”
“Groan. Fine. It is not my fault if you get chased away. There is no refund.”
“I understand.”
The Dwarf priest activated the portal.
Wiiiiiiiiiiing- With that odd feeling, the light shone brightly in front of my eyes.
__________
[1] Oolbat was supposedly the capital of the Batoru Kingdom back in chapter 30…let’s see what happens
