WeTried Translations
Translator: [IncomeElastic]
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became a Blacksmith the Rankers Are Obsessed With ◈
Chapter 55
──────
Call Your Boss
* * *
To sum up the conclusion first, the Ether Circle's Potential Ability was.
─────────────────
【Potential Ability】
[+5 - Choose a Path]
[Torrent] Pushes the circulation to flow faster.
[Deep Current] Deepens and widens the circulation channel.
─────────────────
Honestly, I was a total outsider when it came to magic.
So I asked Dolores.
"Hmm... if you could only pick one, speeding up the circulation or widening it, which would be better?"
"There are pros and cons to each... but widening it is probably the better choice. Push the speed too high and you risk overloading it."
So the one I picked was Deep Current.
But.
─────────────────
【Potential Ability】
[+5 - Deep Current]
[The circulation channel deepens. Leftover mana no longer scatters, and instead lingers within the ring.]
[+10 - Sediment]
[The lingering mana settles and builds up. The longer it's worn, the more accumulates.]
[+15 - Backflow]
[The moment the wearer's mana runs low, everything that's accumulated surges back in all at once.]
[+20 - ?????]
[???????]
─────────────────
I think I ended up reading the +15 ability's description about three times over.
"... The moment the wearer's mana runs low, everything that's built up surges back in all at once, huh."
"Hm?"
"Is that pretty rough?"
Dolores fell into thought for a moment, then quietly spoke.
"Running out of mana in battle happens at least once or twice, without fail. Casting a big spell will do that to you temporarily."
"Ah...."
So then.
In the end.
GG. That was a give-up, plain and simple.
Something told me things might change if it ever reached +20, but.
I looked down at the 1-star hammer in my hand.
"......"
Like hell I was getting there.
A 1 percent ceiling with no destruction rate, sure, I could grind that out with effort, but.
0.1 percent was a bit much.
I've got a body that can't afford to overexert itself, you know.
"Should I sell it...?"
"It's a +16 piece of gear... wouldn't that be a waste?"
"Then, would you mind testing it for me once?"
Dolores took the Ether Circle back into the Tower to test it, and.
A while later.
she came back wearing a complicated expression.
"How was it?"
She glanced down once at the ring on her wrist, then.
"It's better than any accessory I've ever worn, it's on a completely different level. The circulation, the mana efficiency, all of it is overwhelming."
"Ooh."
"For a second there I actually wanted it for myself. I was about to ask if you'd consider not selling it."
"Really?"
It's that good?
I'd already noticed it back with the +20 grind-fest chore glove, but the numbers these enhancements climb to don't seem normal at all.
It wasn't as if Dolores had only ever worn a piece or two of gear in her life, and yet even she'd been tempted.
But.
"The thing is... after I cast a big spell, my whole body just went limp."
Dolores clenched and unclenched her hand, then.
"It's amazing, but... it's an accessory that's basically a trap. I'm sure it has its uses, but the risk is far too severe, and there's no way to manage it."
And so the Ether Circle earned itself the verdict: all shine, no substance.
If it ever reached +20 and a new Potential Ability bloomed, maybe things would be different.
Which might sting a little if it ever actually happened, but....
"Might as well give it a shot, sure."
Since enchanting Unique Equipment was something no one but me could even attempt.
I.
ended up selling it at the auction house.
* * *
The 88th floor, residential district.
Dwarf Company.
Its front gate.
The Enchant Room.
It was already a place that stayed crowded at the best of times, and going purely by the scenery, it looked almost like a casino.
If you wanted to use an appraisal machine, you'd head to the Furnace Tower, but most people came to the Company instead.
But.
today, it was safe to say there were far more people than usual.
- Murmur, murmur....
The 88th floor's residential district was split into the interior of the Furnace Tower and the ordinary residential area outside it.
The Company sat outside.
All the lava and molten iron flowing inside the Furnace Tower fed straight into the Company.
So by rights, the outside should have been sweltering too, but....
Dwarf Company had solved that problem for the climbers' convenience.
They'd bulldozed a whole dwarven residential block, paid out compensation, and built a massive Enchant Room in its place.
And today, that vast space...
was packed wall-to-wall with people.
"......"
If there was one more strange thing about it.
This was a residential district, not a climbing zone.
Since there was no reason to fight here, everyone usually went around in comfortable clothes.
"......"
Not today.
"Berdandi... that's Sakpung."
"Look over there, that's Edin...."
"It really is. Why's someone like that even here...."
Full battle gear, head to toe.
Full-body armor, a bow slung across the back, gauntlets on both hands.
Rankers dressed like they could head straight up the Tower that instant stood lined up right in front of the Company.
The strange part was, no one was moving.
Every single one of them had their head tilted slightly up, staring at one fixed point in midair.
"How much time's left before it ends?"
"One minute, eleven seconds."
The auction house interface.
And the item floating above it was, of course, exactly the same for every single one of them.
The piece of gear that had turned the whole Tower upside down for the past several days.
A 4-star Unique Equipment, the Ether Circle.
It was the first Unique Equipment the public had ever laid eyes on, but the real problem was.
Its Enhancement Level. +16.
An enhancement stage severe enough to shatter the whole existing system.
'Unique Equipment cannot be enchanted.'
That premise had just collapsed.
The moment the Ether Circle appeared, climbers flooded Dwarf Company with a deluge of inquiries.
Enchanting low-tier gear didn't pose much of a threat to High Rankers' equipment values.
In the end, it just meant one more cost-effective alternative added to the list of options.
But enchanting Unique Equipment was a completely different story.
'Your final gear could change.'
The vanguard climbers, who'd poured fortunes into crafting what they'd assumed was their final gear, now found themselves in the miserable position of having to overhaul it wholesale.
They call it "final gear" and then pull a stunt like this?
And since there was only one place in the entire world capable of enchanting anything.
'Aren't these bastards just testing the waters, feeding this stuff out one piece at a time?'
Dwarf Company is pulling something shady right now.
was a rumor with more than enough grounds to spread.
But.
─────────────────
[Notice] Regarding Inquiries About the Enchanted Equipment
This item has no connection to our company and is believed to be dummy data or a Tower system error.
This is the same situation as before, with the [Grind-Fest Chore Gloves] incident, and we would like to state once again that our company does not possess enchanting technology capable of affecting Unique Equipment.
─────────────────
And right next to that notice posted on the community board.
there was a post that had been pinned to the top of the community since yesterday, refusing to budge.
─────────────────
[✪][Hall of Fame Request] Estimated Specs for the +16 Ether Circle
─────────────────
(Graph attached)
─────────────────
[Couldn't cut this down to three lines, so here's a six-line summary.]
1. Credentials first. I'm the one who analyzed the +20 grind-fest chore gloves last time, I'm with the Mage Tower Research Institute, can't say more than that.
2. Never seen a Unique Equipment enchant before in my life. Company, you absolute bastards, damn it... anyway, like I said last time, the numbers climb per enhancement stage in something close to an exponential curve.
3. So, bottom line: just how strong is a +16 4-star, exactly?
4. My estimate is it crushes and obliterates every single non-enchanted 5-star Unique Equipment the vanguard climbers wear. I don't know exact figures, damn it, I told you I'm seeing this for the first time too. It's an estimate, just an estimate.
5. Last thing, nobody knows where this was even made. Even the Company's saying they don't know, right?
Sure, they're insisting it's dummy data... but they pulled that same line last time and the grind-fest chore gloves still didn't sell. So maybe that's why they keep insisting on it? Has anyone here ever actually seen the Tower system glitch out like that?
6. Whether this one sells or not too... if it actually sells, that'd be hilarious.
─────────────────
[Likes 4,812] [Comments 2,207]
─────────────────
Right now, the best gear any Tower vanguard climber wore, however good it got, topped out at a 5-star Unique Equipment with no enchant.
And yet here was something said to obliterate that and perform far better still.
"How much is it at now?"
"Eight-oh...."
[8,015,150 gold]
"Eight million gold."
The Genesis Sword, said to have been forged by an Heir of Flame before their death, had sold for ten million gold. Granted, it had been an offline auction, so there could have been some backdoor dealing involved, but.
Regardless, this thing was said to crush that sword's performance outright.
so maybe it was only natural the price kept climbing like this.
The auction house worked so that every new bid reset the remaining time to thirty seconds.
"It keeps climbing."
"Whoa, whoa...."
- Ding!
─────────────────
[New High Bid]
[8,055,150 gold]
[Time Remaining: 00:30]
─────────────────
─────────────────
[Anonymous1161]: Come on, bid like you mean it, you're being so damn stingy ㅋㅋ
└[Anonymous175]: Fr.
─────────────────
That's how it dragged on, the price crawling up bit by bit, when just then.
─────────────────
[New High Bid]
[18,055,150 gold]
[Time Remaining: 00:30]
─────────────────
"......"
"......"
"Huh?!"
The square in front of the Company went dead silent in an instant....
─────────────────
[Anonymous1661]: What the fuck......?
─────────────────
At the price of what amounted to a Genesis Sword casually tossed into the auction just now.
the auction house couldn't even react for a full thirty seconds.
and the comments froze right along with it.
[Auction Ended]
Bidding has closed.
[Transfer Pending]
Now, this next part mattered a great deal.
If the seller genuinely intended to go through with the sale.
"Transfer Pending" would soon change to "Transfer In Progress."
Last time, with the grind-fest chore gloves, it hadn't changed, the listing had simply come down as-is.
But. This time.
[Transfer In Progress....]
"Huh?!"
That meant the seller had actually handed the item over.
"... It sold."
Someone muttered it under their breath.
and just as the square was about to erupt into noise again.
- Clop... clop....
the sound of hoofbeats came drifting in from somewhere far off.
Since dwarves had legs too short to ride horses.
it wasn't a sound that should have belonged here, in the middle of a residential district, right in front of Dwarf Company no less.
And yet, ironically, there wasn't a single climber who didn't recognize that particular hoofbeat.
- Clop.
Hundreds of heads turned at once.
and the crowd slowly parted.
Through the gap, a wash of red came pushing in.
Hair that looked like it had bottled up a sunset.
A horse blood-red like its rider.
She reined her horse to a stop in the middle of the square, then pushed up the sunglasses perched on her forehead.
A pair of blue eyes came into view.
"Give me back my money, dwarves~♩ Give me back my money, Company~♫"
She arrived at the square humming that ridiculous little tune.
"... Yeomhwa."
Someone murmured it, dumbstruck.
High Ranker Yeomhwa.
A member of the Apostles of Dawn, the same group that counted Dolores, Isabella, Seren, and others among its ranks.
It was safe to say there wasn't a soul in the world who didn't know that woman.
But as for the woman herself....
"Oh, what?!"
Her eyes went wide.
"It actually worked this time?"
Still wearing that startled expression, she gave whatever was floating in midair a light tap with her fingertip.
and light scattered down out of the air.
- Plop.
A single silver ring dropped onto her gloved palm.
"......"
The Ether Circle.
The very item everyone here had been watching just moments ago.
The one who'd thrown in an extra ten million gold right at the last moment of the auction was none other than Yeomhwa herself.
Just then.
someone stepped out from within the crowd.
A man clad in green armor.
"Yeomhwa."
She turned her head.
"Sakpung?! Whoa, hey... is that busted vambrace of yours doing alright?"
"......"
The surroundings went quiet for a moment.
"By any chance, are you the one who won the auction?"
"Yeah, that's me."
The two of them were regulars at the Company.
More precisely, both their names sat near the top of the Company's enchant-revenue rankings.
Just in very different ways.
Where Sakpung tried to plaster every piece of his own gear in +20 enchants....
Yeomhwa, as a High Ranker who'd already wrapped herself in 5-star gear from the start.
had no real reason to enchant anything.
So where had all her money gone, then?
- Neigh...!
The red horse scraped a hoof against the ground.
Its neck, its legs, its saddle.
all of it wrapped in nothing but +20 3-star gear.
She'd plastered her own horse in +20 3-star equipment instead.
"... Please put the Ether Circle to use, and give us your assessment."
Now, only one thing mattered.
Whether that piece of gear really could crush the performance of a 5-star Unique Equipment.
Sakpung bowed his head.
"Sure thing."
Yeomhwa slipped the silver ring onto her wrist.
Then she lifted her head and swept her gaze once around the square.
"Everyone want to clear out of the way?"
- Rumble....
Hundreds of people backed away all at once.
There was an open lot right next to the Company's Enchant Room.
Since it was only obvious that climbers fresh off finishing an enchant wouldn't be able to hold back their excitement, and to keep them from wrecking something they shouldn't.
the Company had deliberately left this space open so people could test their gear's power there.
Yeomhwa reached her hand out toward it.
A massive revolver took shape out of thin air.
"......"
- Click....
The cylinder rotated.
"Bang."
Trigger pulled.
- KABOOOOM!!
From the revolver hovering above Yeomhwa's head.
something red came pouring out.
tearing the whole area to shreds.
and erasing the empty lot entirely.
- Whoosh....
The dust cleared, belatedly.
Flames flickered and wavered.
Yeomhwa looked down at her own wrist.
and the expression on her perpetually smiling face changed.
"......"
She instinctively cupped a hand over the bracelet, then carefully took it off and tucked it away into her pocket space.
Sakpung watched her do it, then slowly raised a hand.
"Let's head in."
That much was enough to call the test finished.
'Above and beyond 5-star gear.'
That was Sakpung's conclusion.
- Thud, thud.
The other climbers following him.
walked into the Company's Enchant Room.
- Creak.
The Enchant Room's door opened.
A white room spread out before them, ringed all around by doors.
Normally, you had to disarm before entering the Enchant Room.
It was an obvious rule.
This was a place where people watched their gear shatter right in front of them, and more than a few lost their minds on the spot.
But.
- Thud, thud, thud.
not a single one of them took off their gear.
and dozens of them walked straight in with Sakpung leading the way.
"Ah, ha-ha...."
The employee standing by the door smiled and approached Sakpung.
"Sakpung...! You still need to disarm before..."
He stopped him the same friendly way he always did.
After all, this was a man who laughed heartily even when his gear shattered.
A man who'd blown through five straight failures in a row and still waved it off with a booming laugh.
But.
- Thump.
Sakpung's hand landed on the employee's shoulder.
"... Unless you want an arrow through your palm."
"......"
- Grip tightening....
"Get Elliot out here."
Call your boss.
Only then did the employee lift his head.
"... Y-yes, sir!"
and only then did he realize that from the moment he'd stepped through that door....
Sakpung hadn't smiled, not even once.
* * *
A sunny garden.
A mysterious sun lounger sat there.
For the record, I was lying on it.
"A straight-up legendary incident just happened...."
[18,055,150 gold]
The auction result hovered in midair.
No matter how many times I looked at it, I never got tired of it.
I had no idea what kind of sucker had paid 1.8 Genesis Swords' worth of gold for this thing, but.
anyway, thanks a bunch.
"Lionel's rich now...."
There was, in fact, another sun lounger right beside mine.
I said it while watching Ruby, who lay there sipping lemonade.
"Ruby, I'm telling you, I'm rich now."
"So?"
Prickly as ever, honestly.
- Slurp, slurp, slurp.
"... Is there nothing you want?"
- Flinch.
Ruby flinched.
Called it.
"... I want... workout equipment."
Dolores had been pleased at first, seeing Ruby exercise.
But little by little.
as the time Ruby spent working out gradually started eating into her magic-study time, Dolores had begun quietly growing wary of it.
'Buildingupyourstaminaisallwellandgoodbutrubyamage'struewellspringismagic….'
Even Ruby must have felt it was a bit much to ask Dolores for workout equipment, given all that.
"Then call me big brother."
"...... Ngh."
[...........]
Yuna, there's no need to be on guard.
You're my soul mate, after all.
While inwardly soothing Yuna.
"If you don't like it, you can just keep jumping rope~"
outwardly, I needled Ruby.
I set the black-ore sunglasses I'd made myself down over my eyes with a plop.
"...... Ngghh...."
"Sounds like a kettle boiling over."
"... Big brother."
"... Come again?"
Ruby, looking embarrassed, her cheeks flushing red.
"Big brother... buy it for me...."
"Sure thing."
Grinning, I decided I'd buy our adorable Ruby that workout equipment.
Lionel becomes a tycoon.
So this is how money multiplies little sisters.
This, right here, was the taste of money.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
