Conquering the Labyrinth with a Trash-Tier Trait - Chapter 32

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 32
‘So it’s him.’
I’d suspected as much from the moment the young man approached, but I tilted my head as though I hadn’t a clue.
“Who…?”
“Ah, I’m Jinu, with the Merchant Guild. Hailon asked me to show you two around.”
“Show us around? I didn’t hear anything about that.”
“Ah, well, he mentioned I should make things convenient for you. Are you perhaps not interested in the Immediate Purchase Items?”
“Oh, Immediate Purchase Items? I was definitely planning to look at those, but don’t they open in the afternoon?”
“Ah, well, we’d like to arrange for you two to have special early access to browse beforehand.”
Immediate Purchase Items.
A collection of goods too awkward for the auction block proper—pieces available at fixed prices for instant purchase.
Most were defective or carried severe penalties.
Yet there were rumors of jackpots found in such places, so every customer who visited the auction house made a point to browse there at least once.
And if they were opening it early…
“Well, there’s no reason to refuse. Char, let’s go.”
“Of course.”
Despite having anticipated Hailon’s move, I couldn’t help but smile at the setup.
“As you can see, there are quite a few items. If you touch the display cases, an alarm will sound, so please look with your eyes only. Information about each piece is listed below.”
Before the Labyrinth Auction began, the auction house became an exhibition hall for Immediate Purchase Items.
But contrary to my expectations, the moment I saw the goods displayed in the glass cases, I could only sigh inwardly.
‘I won’t be able to use my skills like this.’
Despite Hailon’s intentions, I hadn’t come here to put on a full display of strength, but this situation made it impossible to show anything at all.
“Please take your time looking around, and if you find something you’d like, just let me know.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Hmm, wonder if there’s anything worth buying here.”
Jerrik hummed to himself and began browsing, despite having no intention of purchasing anything.
I held similar thoughts, but it didn’t take long for that sentiment to curdle into disappointment.
[Sines’ Steel Spear (Highest Grade)]
-Attack Power +13
-Speed Modifier +10
-Self-Restoration
* Health depletes by 1% per 10 seconds.
‘So they want you to die wielding a spear, is that it?’
[Pairon’s Plate Armor (Highest Grade)]
-Defense +19
-Health Modifier +20
-Impact Absorption Shield +15 (once per day)
* Absorbs 0.1% of Mana per minute while equipped.
‘Mana absorption!? How are you supposed to fight in this!?’
Setting aside the obviously worthless junk, even the pieces that looked usable carried penalties so catastrophic they were crippling.
“Uh, Master?”
“…I’m not seeing anything worthwhile either. Guess we got our hopes up for nothing.”
As I listened to Jerrik’s lament, I was about to continue browsing idly when—
A small weapon suddenly caught my eye.
‘Throwing stars? A set?’
A case held about twenty slender throwing blades, each roughly thirty centimeters long, stacked neatly together.
Made of a translucent crystal-like material with rounded grips and weighted pommel attachments, they had an elegant design.
[Maestro Workshop Apprentice Crystal Throwing Blades, Set (Highest Grade)]
-Attack Power +20
-Mana Thread (High Grade)
-Stealth Flight (High Grade)
‘Interesting.’
-Mana Thread (High Grade).
When thrown with Mana channeled through it, a faint thread of Mana trails behind. Pull it, and the blade returns along the exact path it was thrown (limited to 30 meters).
-Stealth Flight (High Grade).
When thrown with Mana channeled through it, the sound of the throw disappears.
‘This could actually be useful.’
The Mana Thread option in particular struck me as remarkably creative.
I’d heard of artifacts designed to be recovered after leaving their wielder’s hands, but those typically operated through strong telekinetic magic.
The Mana consumption was substantial, which was why such capabilities rarely appeared on throwing weapons—not unless they were of the highest grades.
‘If top-tier gear has options like this, it’s actually worth using. But the price……?’
Immediate purchase price: forty gold for the complete set.
‘……Why is it this cheap?’
The question answered itself in the footnotes below.
* Though not a magical option per se, the Mana Crystal composition itself creates a vision-distortion effect inherent to the material.
* To facilitate mana conductivity, the Mana Crystal ratio was pushed to extremes, resulting in exceptional hardness and sharpness. The trade-off is extreme brittleness.
“Ah…….”
Now she understood why a top-tier item carried such a bargain price.
‘Mana Crystal…….’
Good mana conductivity, but far too rigid with zero malleability—a junk item that shattered easily and had no place as a weapon.
Someone had apparently used it as experimental material.
‘……What a waste.’
They’d added the Mana Thread option to keep it from becoming consumable, but if it broke easily in actual combat, it was just an expensive consumable anyway.
Truly a contradictory weapon.
But I could eliminate that penalty with high probability.
‘And the size is just right.’
It would fit in the goblin basket.
Moreover, with Mana Crystal involved, the odds of hidden options not listed in the description were high.
‘I need a mid-range harassment weapon anyway.’
I’d felt the shortage of ranged firepower keenly through my Labyrinth runs—my Lowest-tier Spirits alone just weren’t enough.
Did she sense my interest?
Jinu appeared at her side and opened his mouth.
“A prototype failure—mistakes craftsmen make during development. They put it on the market to recover whatever costs they can. The Maestro Workshop does this regularly. Are you interested in this item, by any chance?”
“Yes. This is, wow, really beautiful, isn’t it?”
“What now?”
Jerrik looked baffled at the response, and Jinu hesitated—but then broke into a smile.
“Shall I help you purchase it right away?”
“Yes. Ah, but then—could I buy twenty more sets of these? Or rather, nineteen more?”
“……I’m sorry?”
“……They’re just so pretty. The more pretty things, the better.”
Even I recognized the excuse was thin, so I accepted Jinu’s bewildered stare without complaint.
“……As I mentioned, since these are prototypes, there won’t be any more. If you really want them, you’d need to go to the Maestro Workshop directly and place a custom order.”
“The Maestro Workshop……?”
“Erebor. The dwarf city.”
“I see.”
My dream of twenty sets of synthetic super-rare throwing stars died there, but it was fine.
I’d found a useful item anyway.
“Why are you buying garbage like that?”
“Well, I need some kind of mid-range throwing weapon, after all.”
“Huh……. Did you make money too easily and lose your mind?”
“It wasn’t easy money. Do you know how hard I worked for it?”
“Sure, sure. Coming from a Novice who made a few thousand gold, that’s terribly convincing.”
“…….”
Of course, from Jerrik’s perspective, it probably looked entirely different.
* * *
“……He bought a useless throwing star?”
“Yes.”
“What about the items you prepared for him?”
“He didn’t even glance at them.”
“Why did he buy that one?”
“Because, well, he said it was pretty?”
“What?”
“Pretty, he said. He’d buy it. He even asked if there were nineteen more sets available.”
“……Is he insane?”
“He doesn’t seem entirely sane. I mean, you’ve heard the rumors, haven’t you? Among summoners, there are quite a few crazies…….”
“Right. Yeah. So. Then. The whole thing’s been luck so far?”
“What should we do next……?”
“Hah. Let me think about it first. Wait, no. Let’s see how he auctions. Then I’ll decide.”
“An auction?”
“Yeah. Once I see what he does, I’ll know if he has any eye for value or real ability.”
“……Yes.”
* * *
[……I suppose it would’ve gone that way.]
Back home, listening to Hailon’s voice, I clicked my tongue inwardly.
‘At least he could’ve given me a hint about what option modification he’d made. Tsk.’
Of course, if I’d known, I wouldn’t have picked it deliberately anyway.
But there was something to gain from hearing what Hailon had to say.
‘Ruda was trying to keep faith. We can probably do business together for a long time.’
In any case, the Labyrinth Auction for the spear I was after was scheduled to open in five days, so I had time to spare until then.
‘Should I go watch some auctions? I got a reserved seat anyway.’
The crown jewel of the Labyrinth Auction was naturally at the High-tier Auction House.
Each royal palace managed it directly, and every year items that became hot topics were listed there.
Like the “Thunder Drake Egg” that was almost certain to be listed at the High-tier Auction House this time.
Naturally a High-tier item, and naturally appearing on the final day of the Labyrinth Auction.
At the Mid-tier Auction House, items that appear on the last day were usually Skill Stones.
Weapons went up the day before that.
‘It’s not the right time to aim for Skill Stones yet, so I’ll skip the final day.’
I was using my current Skill Stone, Multiple Spirit Summoning, well enough that I had no intention of changing it right now.
Anything above orange rank couldn’t be engraved anyway until after obtaining a class.
‘And the cost to delete a Skill Stone would hurt too.’
It took a thousand gold.
That’s why adventurers generally didn’t swap Skill Stones unless they really wanted to blow money, at least not until the slot capacity maxed out.
For someone like me with only one slot, when I advanced, there’d be no choice but to delete and pick a new Skill Stone.
‘Same type, Spirit-class, orange rank Skill Stone. Could I even find one?’
Honestly, the odds were low.
In that case.
‘Klinsman. I might have to track down that eccentric wizard.’
An uncertain future still. A future I couldn’t predict.
I shook my head and brushed away the pointless speculation.
‘Getting the first Skill Stone this easily is its own problem.’
Back then, there was some regret—shouldn’t I have synthesized up to nineteen before the rank stopped rising? But I was still haunted by it.
Now I understood.
That things don’t flow along so conveniently.
‘Generally, a red Skill Stone can have only one ability attached to it.’
And strictly speaking, the abilities attached to Multiple Spirit Summoning are two.
Spirit Summoning itself, and synchronizing consciousness with that spirit.
That’s why I could observe my own battles objectively through the sight of four spirits.
And when pressed, I sometimes held five thoughts at once while searching for an escape route.
That was only possible because of a “penalty” limited to Lowest-tier Spirits.
Before, I’d imagined that if I synthesized discarded Skill Stones to create a new one, countless penalties might stack and create a complicated ability, but now I know that’s not the case.
Because I’ve synthesized items with vast amounts of mana.
If it’s a red Skill Stone—in other words, a Lowest-tier Skill Stone—
‘the odds are high it’d be fixed at one different penalty, plus two entirely different abilities.’
Well, the stats would probably all match out at maximum value of 10 across all six categories.
But there’s no guarantee that something like Multiple Spirit Summoning—with a weak penalty—would come out.
Most of all, I was really using Multiple Spirit Summoning to its fullest.
‘I’m starting to think maybe I had an original talent for the Spirit class.’
Come to think of it, my luck was extraordinary from that very beginning.
Well. It’s meaningless speculation now.
I haven’t even obtained a class yet, so I can’t slot in higher-rank abilities.
And it costs a lot to delete them.
‘I’ll just do some synthesizing, and if it works out properly, maybe try practicing the Throwing Technique with shuriken.’
After that, four days later, I thought it might be worth attending the armor auction too.
‘I’ll need some decent plate armor anyway.’
Fortunately, I seemed to have bought the shuriken well.
There was even the hidden additional option as expected.
* The Mana Crystal has been refined and aged, conducting mana properties well (when using attribute mana, attack power +1).
Well, it wasn’t a spectacular option.
‘That’s probably why regular appraisers didn’t spot it.’
But when I synthesized it, the change was bound to give me hope.
And my expectations were fulfilled precisely.
Gleam.
[Maestro Workshop Apprentice’s Crystal Throwing Star. Set (Rare)]
-Attack Power +30
-Mana Thread (Highest Grade)
-Blind Snipe (Highest Grade)
-Attribute Attack Power +20
-Hardness and Malleability Enhancement +30
“Oh!”

When thrown with mana infused, a thread of mana extends from it. A secondary attack using that thread is possible, but on the third use, it must be retrieved without fail (limited to 600 meters).

The moment it’s thrown with mana infused, it vanishes from sight and sound.
Options that had transformed so brilliantly it was hard to believe they were merely Highest Grade rank skills.
‘Six hundred meters? I’d wear out my arm throwing it and still not come close. Ha.’
It was almost excessive.
More than that, the weakness of shattering easily had vanished entirely, and it now bore a Hardness and Malleability Enhancement of +30—an extraordinary boost.
Considering that a well-forged steel suit of armor had a defense enhancement of only +10, this was three times that.
Not merely hardness, but malleability as well.
‘It won’t break under ordinary circumstances now.’
Moreover, the attribute attack power option was the icing on the cake for someone who wielded spirits.
Knowing how difficult it was to apply special damage amplification techniques to throwing weapons, this was a truly precious option.
‘Considering accuracy, retrieval, and secondary attacks, a wind spirit might be the best choice?’
In every way, I’d acquired a mid-range weapon that pleased me deeply.
So I attempted some practice.
“Does Throwing Technique look easy to you? When you ought to master one skill alone…….”
Jerrik offered his reproof.
Of course, he taught me well nonetheless.
“As a mid-range weapon, throwing stars are indeed a fine choice. Hold it like this…….”
“You told me to master one skill alone, yet you know this so well?”
“……The point is, don’t invest points into it recklessly. Learn it adequately.”
“Yes. Of course.”
So for four days until the armor auction, I trained my evolved spear technique and footwork, and in the gaps between, practiced throwing the stars as well—with the result that
[The Throwing Technique (Normal) skill has been created.]
I generated a basic skill using mana application.
“……Certainly. You do have talent.”
“Ahem. Despite appearances, I am a genius…….”
“Absolutely not. Perhaps a prodigy at best. Don’t get ahead of yourself. With just a Normal skill. Anyone who knows how to use mana can do this much as standard.”
“……It was a joke.”
Master Jerrik was always sharp in matters like these.
“The armor auction. It seems to start this evening. Will you go?”
“Yes. I need to acquire armor anyway. And I have sufficient funds.”
“Good. You’ve thought it through well.”
Thus did I participate in the Labyrinth Auction for the first time.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————