“Indeed, we do,” Alex responded, “but only cores that have a purity level above fifty percent.”
“In that case, I have a surprise for you,” Val replied, a smirk playing on his lips.
Alex’s brows raised in curiosity. “Oh? And what might that surprise be?”
Val slipped his hand into his pocket. It seemed like an ordinary movement, but in truth, he was discreetly reaching into his pocket dimension. It was a tactic he used to ensure that no one would discover his valuable cursed artifact with its own personal space. Pulling his hand back out, his fingers were wrapped around cores that sparkled under the ambient light.
Alex’s eyes widened at the sight of the cores. “Such beautiful, pure cores…” He murmured, almost to himself, “What’s their purity level?”
“100 percent,” Val announced nonchalantly.
Alex choked on his own spit, coughing for a moment before managing to sputter out, “You must be kidding me, right?
“No, I’m not,” Val retorted, “But if you don’t believe me, Feel free to get a professional appraiser to determine their worth.”
Appraisers were specialists in determining the worth of various items, including cursed artifacts, cores, collectibles, and vintage goods. They assessed factors such as age, condition, rarity, historical significance, and market demand to provide a value for each item. This profession was valuable, making it a popular career choice. However, it was only easy to enter for those who had bloodline skills that allowed them to detect the value of an object, such as Val’s Detect.
Thinking he was being trolled by the son of Joshua, Alex called over an appraiser. “I need you to check the purity level of these cores,” he instructed, holding out the cores Val had given him.
The appraiser’s eyes glowed blue as he looked over the cores, his surprise evident when he didn’t find a single trace of impurity within the cores. As a result, his eyes widened, almost comically so.
“What’s the matter?” Alex asked, breaking the appraiser out of his shocked stupor.
Without a word, the appraiser rubbed his eyes, clearly in disbelief at what he was seeing. He appraised the cores again, and his shock only grew when he found the same result.
“These cores… they’re 100% pure!” he exclaimed.
The shock on Alex’s face mirrored that of the appraiser. His jaw dropped open in astonishment, wide enough that a bee flew right into his mouth, causing him to cough and sputter as he spat it out.
Val didn’t feel that Alex and the appraiser were overreacting.
Absolute purification of dungeon monster cores was no trivial matter. After all, the creation of Level-10 holy water, a necessity to thoroughly cleanse the corruption in the cores, required the cooperative efforts of an expert wizard and a powerful priest or priestess and individuals with such talents and abilities were in short supply throughout the kingdom.
In fact, the majority of them had been successfully courted by noble families from the inner region and the royal family from the divine capital. These families often employed luxurious promises and comfortable lives as bait to monopolize the services of these rare individuals.
This situation had led to a world where 100% purified cores were seldom seen in the marketplace.
It was such a rare occurrence that it was perfectly understandable for Alex and the appraiser to react in such a shocked manner at the sight of them.
The cores Val presented were not just pure, they represented a feat that few could accomplish!
“Where did you get these cores from?” the appraiser asked Alex.
Alex quickly pointed to Val and said, “From him.”
The appraiser turned to Val and confessed, “In all honesty, the market price of these cores is around 50 contribution points each. However, considering the exceptional purity of your cores, I am willing to purchase them at four times their market price.”
Alex, who had been listening, interrupted the appraiser. “Hold on, aren’t you offering too much? These are only level 2 cores. Regardless of their purity, how valuable can they be?”
“Excuse us for a moment,” the appraiser said to Val, before dragging Alex a few feet away. Lowering his voice, he spoke to Alex, “You have to understand, these may only be Level-2 dungeon cores, but they can be consumed by anyone, even normies, without any side effects. Anyone can use them to increase their physical condition to the level of a Level-3 warrior. Wealthy individuals would gladly pay double the amount I offered Val for these cores because who wouldn’t want to strengthen their bodies and enjoy better health?”
Alex nodded slowly, processing the appraiser’s words. “I understand,” he finally responded, his face showing newfound respect for the value of the cores Val had presented.
They then returned to the counter.
“We would like to purchase all your cores at four times the market price.” The appraiser was the one to make the offer to Val.
Val smiled slightly, “I must apologize,” he started, “As a Level-3 warrior, my enhanced senses sometimes pick up more than I intend to. I overheard your discussion. It appears my cores are more valuable than your current offer. So either you come up with a better deal, or I’ll find a more honest trader to do business with.”
The appraiser’s face darkened, feeling as if he had shot himself in the foot. If he had known Val was a Level-3 warrior, he would’ve never proposed such a deal. But he wasn’t entirely to blame. He turned to glare at Alex, whose foolishness had led to their current predicament.
Feeling the weight of the appraiser’s gaze, Alex avoided eye contact, casually whistling and acting as though he hadn’t done anything wrong and wasn’t the one at fault.
“So, what’s your decision going to be?” Val pressed, taking advantage of their silence. 𝔬𝓥𝑳xt.𝓒𝑜𝗆
The appraiser sighed, a resigned look on his face. “We will buy your cores for six times their market price.”
“Deal!” Val exclaimed, grinning widely.
Every single one of the purified Level-2 dungeon monster cores offered by Val was sold at 300 CPS each, netting him a total of over 3000 CPS!
A system notification popped up in front of Val.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host! Your total contribution points have now increased to 18000.]