Chương 286: Progress

"Have you had any luck on that new artifact?" Damion asked Leland the next morning. The message he had received from the Adventurer Association was a mission request for his Spatial mage identity to join in on a dungeon run to the A Rank dungeon in Saung, Crimson Waste. Obviously he could not go on the dungeon run until he could disguise himself, but he was hoping Leland was finished, or at least close to finished, with the artifact.

"Nearly, two, maybe three more days and I should have a working prototype," Leland told him.

"Good," Damion said as he sent a message back to the group wanting James Picard for the run. If they could wait a few days, he could join them, otherwise it would be a missed opportunity.

"I don't see a huge line this morning," Flannery commented.

"Did yesterday's antics put people off?"

"That isn't it," Damion said.

"I put out a mission for people to accept for slots to have their artifacts upgraded. If someone was able to claim one of the mission slots, then they don't need to rush here to try and get to the head of the line."

"What a good idea. And since it is through the Adventurer Association, troublemakers won't dare to take a slot and not use it. If they do, you can just report them to the Association, and they risk having their license revoked." After breakfast, Damion headed into the shop and waited for his customers to start showing up.

The first to arrive were those returning from yesterday, eager to collect their upgraded artifacts, which they were more than satisfied with and paid their fee with the prearranged number of cores. His new customers came and dropped off their artifacts to be worked on and Damion was happy to oblige. Ethan also came to the shop, this time with a crate full of B Rank Demonic Beast cores.

"I want to upgrade some of the shop's artifacts from C Rank to B Rank. You can do that, right?"

"I can, but don't you have a shipping company to help run?"

"Once you upgrade these, I'm going to take them to the Yellow Zones and sell them for massive profits."

"You really think people in the Yellow Zones can afford B Rank artifacts?" Damion questioned his logic.

"Average adventurers, no, but guilds and Orders yes. They have tons of resources but are overworked and can hardly ever send people they trust to purchase quality artifacts. They rely on merchants like me to bring quality products to them, but I can hardly ever do so because even here in Green Zones, there aren't that many B Rank artifacts. The best I can usually take them are C Rank artifacts."

"There are more than our agreed upon ten artifacts here."

"Please," Ethan pleaded.

"I already have orders. Three weapons and four sets of armor shouldn't be that much of a burden for you. I mean, the armor is virtually identical pieces, once you've done the first one, the others should be a piece of cake."

"Alright, I will work on these and have them ready for you in the morning."

"Great. Thank you so much." Ethan left the artifacts on the workbench and left the shop, wanting to let his friend get to work right away. Once the merchant knight was gone, Damion had the Magic System analyze the artifacts. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The artifacts were all new, and like Ethan had said, the armor sets were essentially identical.

These artifacts were ones Leland had made for a guild or Order, but had never been picked up or paid for. Now, Ethan was selling them to another guild or Order for more money, as soon as Damion upgraded them to B Rank. The cost to upgrade them all came out to over 12, 300 credits, but considering there were 23 artifacts in all, and his fee would be 49 B Rank cores, Damion could hardly say no to that profit margin.

He had no idea where Ethan was going to get 49 B Rank cores, but the 49, 000 credits he would get when the System converted them, would net him quite a bit. Combined with his normal daily credit intake of between 3, 000 to 4, 000 credits from his other customers, he was starting to make headway. If he could bulk upgrade artifacts for a guild or an Order, then he would really make a profit. He seriously considered the idea of posting a mission in the Adventurer Association for that exact service.

But doing so would likely require him to pretend to take several days and likely him going to the headquarters of whichever guild or Order accepted. Damion was worried if he really did such a thing, his walking out a free man might be difficult. He might be able to brave such a thing if the top person of the guild was B Rank. However, if he was out-matched, Damion did not want to risk exposing his abilities more than he already had.

Walking into a lion's den might earn him some quick credits, but in the end it would not be worth it. In the evening, Damion received a reply to his inquiry from the dungeon clearing team in need of a Spatial mage, and he was in luck, the team was willing to wait a few days for him to be free. Now all he needed was the artifact from Leland. When Damion approached the artificer the next day, Leland was actually happy to announce that he had succeeded.

"The artifact is not perfect mind you," Leland told him.

"I've only been able to get it to change a person's form for a few minutes. But now that I know my enchantments work, I should be able to improve it and in a few months get you a working model that keeps you disguised for as long as you need."

"A few months," Damion said in disbelief.

"I was hoping to use the artifact to get around the Association not letting me go into dungeons. I even have a team ready to take me as soon as I am ready."

"Oh my. I'm afraid I won't have a truly functional artifact for you for some time," Leland said. He hated to disappoint Damion, but creating an artifact like this was not easy.

"Can I take a look at your prototype?" Damion asked. As long as it was a working artifact, the Magic System should be able to optimize and upgrade it, at least as long as the artifact was not already at B Rank.

"Ah, with your skills, you might be able to see the flaws in my design and help me move along faster."

"Well, I can't make any promises. I'm used to working with completed artifacts," Damion told him. He really was not sure how the Magic System would treat the artifact if it was not considered a working artifact, either it would let him upgrade it, or it would not.

"Here, take a look," Leland said, offering the artifact, which was a bulky bracelet, to Damion.

'System, analyze this artifact for upgrade,' Damion told the Magic System after accepting the artifact and heading to his room to work. True Sight told him the artifact was only F Rank, which for what it could potentially do, was good, but Damion hoped he could do better. {Affirmative} {Analyzing…} {Metamorphic Bracelet, cost to upgrade to E Rank – 250 credits.} Damion about choked when he heard it would cost 250 credits.

The artifact was F Rank, the upgrade should not cost as much as a D Rank artifact, let alone half what a B Rank cost to buy from the Magic System Shop.

'System, why is the cost of this artifact so much?' {This artifact is incomplete and requires extensive modifications to allow correct functionality.}'What Rank will this artifact be once it is upgraded?' {Host requested cost to upgrade to E Rank. The resulting artifact will be E Rank.}'A D Rank accessory artifact from the Magic System Shop only costs 50 credits, but this thing will cost so much. Good thing I have been earning plenty of credits lately,' Damion thought.

This was the first time he had encountered an artifact the Magic System would charge more than the value of its own artifacts to upgrade. But he partially understood why, it was a prototype, and likely Leland had used substandard parts or surplus materials just to be able to test functionality. Similar to what he had done with his first body scanner. The System was going to bring the artifact up to its standards.

In this case it probably meant using entirely new material and probably drastically changing the enchantments.

'Alright System, proceed with the upgrade.' {Affirmative.}