24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 51
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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24-Hour Friendly Market Specializing in Dimensional Items Episode 51
Episode 51. The Arrow That Left the Bowstring (10)
Well, that didn’t mean I had any intention of stepping forward in front of the raid team like some great savior and boasting, ‘They say we can’t enter the sanctuary, so let’s find another way.’
You shouldn’t underestimate veterans who’ve been rolling around in Babel for years.
Right now it seems like I’m steadily gathering information and staying ahead of them, but there’s a high chance the raid team has already found another breakthrough method.
There’s no reason not to trust hunters since the era of Babel arrived.
Anyway, my destination was already decided.
“Well, it’s perfect weather for a drive.”
It seemed odd to leisurely go for a drive when I’d been assigned a scenario at this point, but I’d been driving for about 3 hours with a fairly serious mindset.
How arduous would this journey have been if I hadn’t bought Nokgacheon?
Expressing deep gratitude to Nocturne Garth once again, I ran endlessly toward my destination.
Before long, a tower rising tall in the distance began to come into view.
“…Ah, right.”
But now the tower was shrouded in Black Mist.
Its luxurious and magnificent appearance remained the same, but the thick Black Mist covering the entire area made that tower look like a tower of death.
‘Are you stupid, Lee Hae-won?’
First, I started my contemplation by scolding myself.
I’m legendary for hearing from the turtle’s mouth that the Magic Tower had also become ruins due to Agemor’s erosion, yet only realizing it when I came right up and saw it directly.
“Ah… what should I do.”
I sat on the saddle and just stared blankly at the prize before my eyes.
If only I could turn on Merchant’s Mark, I wouldn’t need to have such useless worries.
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with a way to penetrate that mist and reach the Magic Tower.
It was at that moment when I was giving the middle finger to my past self who had turned off the mark just to watch one scenario.
“…Can that thing be appraised too?”
I thought that simply out of curiosity.
Well, it was also because my thoughts were flowing strangely since I couldn’t find an immediate answer.
I casually used my Appraisal skill without much expectation.
But then.
[Agemor’s Erosion (???)
A materialized form of the abandoned one’s rage and resentment, impossible to remove through physical attacks.
It will eternally gnaw at and multiply throughout the world unless ■■■■ is ■■.
– Status: Active]
I stared at the window with my mouth hanging open.
Wasn’t it absurd that this thing could be appraised in the first place?
The question mark grade was a bit annoying, but no gold was deducted either.
[⁕ When using ‘Item Appraisal’ skill on items within scenarios, gold will not be deducted.]
I casually gave a thumbs up to the helpful Sam-i who had clearly resolved my question, then seriously pondered.
When things seem blocked, they suddenly flow smoothly – isn’t someone watching over my life?
Could it be that my life is actually like a novel or something?
I glared at the innocent sky before looking at the window again.
‘Don’t tell me it can be repaired too?’
[Would you like to repair this item?]
“Crazy…”
A curse slipped out without me realizing it.
The real jackpot event wasn’t something like the turtle shell attachment and detachment – it was this.
Babel judged Agemor’s erosion not as a special phenomenon but as ‘damage.’
If Babel considered Agemor’s erosion as some kind of error that occurred in this dimension, that would be a plausible deduction.
‘No, plausible or not, this is a complete opportunity for me!’
I immediately kicked off from the saddle, stood up, and nodded my head.
With this, I could solve the scenario’s requirement to ‘stop Agemor’s erosion’ in one go!
That was the moment.
[Using ‘Repair’ skill on ‘Agemor’s Erosion.’]
[1G has been deducted.]
“Huh, what?”
I had been staring at the erosion spread far in the distance with a pounding heart, but sighed in a deflated tone.
This, it did repair something.
“You’re telling me you repaired that tiny spot…?”
Only the exact middle of the path leading to the Magic Tower briefly cleared up white like a dot.
Even after a few seconds passed, the surrounding mist slowly crept in to fill that gap.
Well, this… I’m so dumbfounded I don’t even know what to say.
Right, I was too naive to think I could clear a scenario this easily.
I plopped down on the saddle and became absorbed in finding another breakthrough.
Surely the fact that I could use the Repair skill would be the only solution given to me.
‘Then… could I repair only the range where I’m moving?’
[Would you like to repair the ‘user-specified range’?]
As expected, learning one skill feeds you for generations.
I set it to automatically repair only the mist surrounding me and took a deep breath.
The gold I had was exactly 1,736 gold.
“Let’s go.”
Well, surely I won’t die!
I tried to hide my anxiety and smiled as if I’d become someone positive about everything.
And the moment I entered the curtain of Black Mist.
“…This actually works.”
It became a strange situation as if I had a protective barrier only over my body.
The scenery spread before me was all darkly tinted black, but I alone was moving freely within that darkness.
As Nokgacheon ran, the erosion was repaired, and after I passed, that path turned black again.
It was clearly a desperate world, yet strangely, I was feeling a sense of mystery.
[1G has been deducted.]
[1G has been deducted.]
[1G has been deducted.]
‘Damn, my precious gold…’
Of course, the gold being continuously deducted at regular intervals pulled me back to reality.
I raised Nokgacheon’s speed to maximum and headed straight for the Magic Tower.
The door of the Magic Tower, so high you couldn’t see the end, was miserably smashed to pieces.
Could this be traces of someone who fled in haste?
The sight of it having lost all its past glory and wisdom was utterly desolate.
The crumbled papers scattered on the floor and various objects seemed to show that this place was nothing more than ruins.
I slowly stepped into the ruins.
[1G will be deducted.]
Ah, no, I was too hasty.
I couldn’t expect to quickly find what I was looking for inside a Magic Tower of such tremendous height.
[Discoverer’s Eye (B)
An eye that helps find desired objects. Can search by name or appearance.
However, clairvoyance is impossible, and it’s difficult to find things that are hidden or protected.
When the desired object is found, it alerts the location with a loud alarm sound.]
I have the market, and with just this, I’m basically a gangster.
There are many more expensive and better items, but the reason I bought this item is simple.
Due to Agemore’s erosion, all magic and doors had crumbled, and this place was now no different from an open world with all doors unlocked.
“Well then, shall we look for ‘Paroxia’?”
When I used the item, a small circle shaped like an eyeball appeared before me.
The circle floating in the air began rapidly scouring the empty Magic Tower.
While the circle searched for Paroxia, I picked up a few papers scattered carelessly on the floor.
[Research on the Optimal Height of Wizard Hats]
[Analysis of Emotional States Through Changes in Slime Elasticity]
[Classification of Unicorn Hair Quality Grades and Seasonal Variation Research]
Researching stuff like this… these are this dimension’s greatest scholars?
I shook my head in disbelief while reading the sentence “Depressed slimes show a 7 percent increase in elasticity.”
I knew this from when I met the Dark Mages before, but it seems all mages are just crazy bastards.
That’s when it happened.
Beep- Beep- Beep-
“Ugh, what’s that?”
A loud sound, too intense to call an alarm, came from somewhere on the upper floors.
As expected, keeping important items on high floors must be a universal rule in any dimension.
I hurriedly began climbing the spiral staircase.
[1G will be deducted.]
“Ah, I get it.”
Gold kept disappearing, and I ran toward the source of the sound as fast as possible.
Meanwhile, the alarm sound grew closer and closer.
“Oh.”
Finally arriving at the tower’s top floor.
Probably what used to be the tower master’s room.
It was obviously more splendid than the rooms on the lower floors, with elegant decorations carved along the door frame.
Unlike what I’d seen from outside, the room had tremendous ceiling height, bookshelves filling one entire wall, and mysterious ornaments hanging in the air.
Except for everything being ash-colored, it was a sight that naturally drew admiration.
Beep- Beep- Beep-
The deafeningly loud alarm sound was coming from right under the desk.
“Is this it?”
The object’s identity was a compass.
It looked like just an ordinary black compass, but the Discoverer’s Eye had positioned itself above it and was screaming.
To think that the symbol of reconciliation blessed by the goddess Oerisa was just lying carelessly on the floor.
I carefully picked up the compass.
As soon as it entered my protective barrier, the compass lost its ash color and instantly regained its original appearance.
“Wow…”
An exclamation escaped me without realizing it.
From the compass case with its antique bronze color and transparent glass covering, everything looked extraordinary.
Added to that were patterns that must have been carved with meticulous skill by an experienced craftsman.
One side had geometric, angular patterns, while the other had graceful curved patterns encircling the case.
The point where these two mismatched patterns met mysteriously harmonized like one perfect work of art.
Looking at the back, tiny letters smaller than sesame seeds were densely engraved.
‘Probably the contents of the Kantana Peace Agreement.’
I wanted to read it but passed due to my poor eyesight issues.
And another thing that caught my eye was the two needles, different from an ordinary compass.
One was dark brown, seeming to heavily maintain balance, while the other was a bright green needle that vividly glowed.
“What’s this, is it broken?”
The two needles were pointing in completely opposite directions, locked in tense opposition.
I tried moving the compass around, but the two needles remained motionless, turning their backs on each other.
“I guess the two needles represent the two races.”
I muttered quietly and used my Appraisal skill.
[Paro■■a (???)
A ■■■ relic that ■■■■izes ■■ace between ■■ and ■■■■.
– Status: Damaged]
“Damaged…”
Half the letters were broken and unreadable, but there couldn’t be anything else that starts with ‘Paro’ and ends with ‘a’ besides Paroxia.
At this point, wasn’t it really fortunate that an uninvited guest like me got involved in the scenario?
I praised myself and carefully used my Repair skill.
[Would you like to repair ‘Paro■■a’?]
[Repairing this item will take a certain amount of time.]
As expected, since it’s a main item, it won’t be fixed instantly.
The Repair skill seemed to be working properly, as a golden aura rose around the compass.
It was already an incredibly antique object, but with the aura added, it looked like something beyond approach.
But this wasn’t the time to feel relieved just because the skill worked.
Even now, 1 Gold was being steadily deducted, and I had to stay here fixing this thing.
‘I should have done this outside.’
But I also needed to find materials related to the Tower of Babel as originally planned.
While thinking about that, a sudden thought occurred to me.
When Agemore’s erosion appeared, wouldn’t the mages of this Magic Tower have studied it?
I spoke to the now-quiet Discoverer’s Eye.
“If there are any documents among the papers that contain the word ‘Agemore’, let me know.”
Circle, who heard my words, flew out the door with lively energy.
I stared blankly at that adorable retreating figure and thought.
What exactly is ‘Agemor’?
It only now occurred to me that I had only thought of it as the name of the fog, never considering the word ‘Agemor’ itself.
If I’m going to be scared, I should at least know what I’m scared of.
However, my wait ended quickly.
There was no alarm sound anywhere, and the eyeball returned to me obediently.
“It wasn’t there?”
Even though I couldn’t have a conversation with it, I asked in disbelief.
‘Is it a person’s name?’
If I searched the market, wouldn’t something come up?
It was the moment I opened the market.
[■ Babel System > Scenario Participant Shared Message
– Han Romi, the current raid team is in a deadlock as we cannot find a way to enter the sanctuary. There’s a wall of enormous holy power wrapped in Prorovel that completely blocks entry. The raid team plans to move to Reikam, a nearby village. Please join us at Reikam instead of Prorovel. Ι Ahn Yeon-seo (Dimension-Earth Ι Zone-South Korea)
– Why are you fighting fog? Ι Han Romi (Dimension-Earth Ι Zone-South Korea)
– Monsters tainted by fog appear nearby. When using holy power, we can kill the monsters, but cannot stop the fog. Ι Ahn Yeon-seo (Dimension-Earth Ι Zone-South Korea)
– Okay, I’ll go to Rebecca Ι Han Romi (Dimension-Earth Ι Zone-South Korea)
– It’s Reikam. Ι Ahn Yeon-seo (Dimension-Earth Ι Zone-South Korea)]
The raid team had cherry-picked only the tastiest parts of the information to feed me.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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