Chapter 8, Episode 24: Jackpot?
A line marred what I presumed to be a magic crystal that was still half buried in the dirt wall. To avoid damaging it any further, I carefully dug it out without using my shovel. The crystal was as long as my forefinger and about two fingers wide. Judging by the color, I pegged it for a Dark magic crystal, which was soon verified by an Appraisal.
But it looked like there were more crystals buried here... Several more had been revealed while I was digging out the first, some obviously bigger than the one in my hand. The Break Rock spell on the shovel might have played a part in removing the extra dirt. Regardless of whether what I had been sensing was the magical energy in this pocket of magic crystals, I had to tell the others first.
“I found magic crystals!” I called. “Dark magic crystals!” I tossed the one in my hand over to them.
Sebas caught it and must have Appraised it, because I heard him say with an impressed sigh, “This is indeed a Dark magic crystal. And it’s a Class-1.” That drew an audible reaction from the other three.
Sebas’s appraisal was apparently more detailed than mine. I’d guessed that the magic crystal was of good quality, so I asked Sebas to elaborate.
As it turned out, magic crystals were categorized into three types according to their element and into six classes according to their quality. Light, Lightning, and Wood crystals were Type-1; Dark, Poison, and Ice crystals were Type-2; Fire, Water, Air, Earth, and Neutral crystals were Type-3. Type-1 crystals were the rarest and Type-3 crystals were the most common. Space magic crystals had never been discovered, so they were yet to be classified.
When comparing magic crystals of the same element, its price doubled every time it went up in class. For example, a Type-3 magic crystal would be priced something like this:
Class-1: 32,000+ sutes
Class-2: 16,000+ sutes
Class-3: 8,000+ sutes
Class-4: 4,000+ sutes
Class-5: 2,000+ sutes
Class-6: Less than 2,000 sutes
A staff required a Class-5 crystal or better, but Class-6 crystals were marketed more like batteries that commoners could afford and use to power their magical items. Class-6 crystals were sometimes bundled with crystal fragments produced when processing better kinds, and were sometimes called scrap crystals. Generally speaking, the higher the class, the more magical energy a crystal contained. More magical energy meant it could be used for more applications, which explained their price.
Since Type-2 crystals were rarer, their price tripled compared to Type-3 crystals of the same class:
Class-1: 96,000+ sutes
Class-2: 48,000+ sutes
Class-3: 24,000+ sutes
Class-4: 120,000+ sutes
Class-5: 6,000+ sutes
Class-6: Less than 6,000 sutes
In other words, a high-quality Type-3 crystal could fetch a better price than a lower-quality Type-2 crystal. The magic crystals I found, though...
“So, that’s a Dark magic crystal, which makes it a Type-2. And it’s of the highest class of quality,” I reiterated.
“That is correct,” Sebas confirmed. “High-quality magic crystals are rare finds and are always in high demand among various professions like mages and artisans. It is quite unusual to even lay eyes on crystals of this quality. And the prices I’ve given you are the minimum which you could expect to sell them for. By bringing it to the right buyer, you could fetch double or triple that.”
A price of almost 100,000 sutes was the minimum?! That was a whole large gold coin: a small fortune!
“I need a Dark magic crystal for my new staff, so I’d pay that price, if you’re willing to part with it for that much, Ryoma,” Remily chimed in without a second thought!
“Um, Mister Sebas?” I called.
“Yes?”
“There’s still a whole bunch of crystals buried here...”
This was met with great shock by the adults, then we decided to dig out as much as we could.
From the Dimension Home, I brought out earth and dark slimes to help me with the task. I was only going to ask the earth slimes at first, but the dark slimes were very eager to come out, apparently wanting to take in the magical energy of this place. Occasionally, I’d give the slimes that used elemental magic that same type of magical energy, but that was just a treat. The majority of their sustenance was gained from them ingesting magical energy from the air out of their own accord.
The pit of the Starving Gallows, as it turned out, was a great feeding ground for dark slimes. The earth slimes dug forwards, the dark slimes gathered the magic crystals, and I carried them out. The others, standing outside the freshly dug cavern, took the bag of crystals and went about appraising its contents.
When we’d collected twenty-two Dark magic crystals of varying sizes, the bizarre sensation came to me again, tugging me towards the end of the cave. I cast some Earth magic to dig farther until I found a magic crystal much bigger than the others—shaped like a black pillar about half a meter long—encircled by a smattering of other crystals in varying sizes. It was more beautiful than any of the other crystals, pulsing with magical energy that outshone the rest of the crystals combined.
A sudden urge told me to reach out and touch the crystal. Just as my fingers were about to touch it, an indescribable chill shot up my spine, and I leaped back as fast as my heart had started beating. Sweat poured down my back like a waterfall.
What was that? Something’s not right about that crystal.
“Ryoma? You’re drenched in sweat! What happened?” Remily called, illuminating me with Light magic.
“I just found a huge crystal. As soon as I got close to it, I felt this horrible feeling—”
“Come on out, Ryoma,” Remily firmly commanded.
Trying to walk out of the cavern with my slimes tested my will, as I kept feeling drawn back to the crystal pillar. I focused on reliving the revolting sensation I’d felt to carry me out into the clearing.
“Despell.” By way of greeting, Remily cast her spell on me.
Just as I stepped out of the cavern, I felt the magical light sink into my skin, then a rush of relief like I had just been unbound, somehow. Suddenly, my mind became clear, and I realized how foggy my thoughts had been until this point.
“A curse?” I asked, though I was fairly certain. Remily’s curse-breaking spell had had an obvious effect on me.
“Dark magic crystal mines are prone to them. Dark magic can attack the mind, after all. Some people are affected by the magical energy in the crystals. It slipped my mind because I never normally mine them myself,” she explained.
“Thank you. I should have been more careful,” I said. “If I had been alone, I wouldn’t have even realized that I’d been cursed until things got much worse.”
“No need to thank me. We’re a team, so we help each other. Easy as that. Take a breather while I take care of the curse on that crystal. I’ll teach you as many defenses against curses as I can, later.” Remily stroked my hair, muttered, “Curse Block,” and climbed down into the hole.
“Have some water,” Sebas said, offering me a glass of water and a towel.
While I chugged the water and wiped my sweat, I watched a brilliant light burst from the cavern, then Remily emerged ten seconds later.
“How did it go, Remily?” Reinbach asked, keeping watch with his back to the hole.
Remily pinched her brows. “Where to start... That was something else, literally. It was a magic gem.”
From what I recalled, magic gems were an absurdly rare item, and the ruby on Elia’s necklace was an example of one.
“Sorry I couldn’t give you much of a break, but can you go collect it?” Remily asked.
As I approached the cavern, Remily cast a protection spell against curses.
When I made it to the end, I could see that the magic gem was a large cluster of black crystals. Back on Earth, I’d seen a small crystal cluster ornament in a meeting room or something, but nothing as big as this one. The fact that I couldn’t even see that earlier really showed how much the curse was clouding my mind.
These crystals really are beautiful, I found myself thinking. It would make a statement in my home... I kind of want it.
Mixed with the urge to take the crystals home, however, was an aversion to touching them, even though I didn’t feel a visceral reaction like I did earlier. So, I decided to cast Create Block to surround the gem with cubes of dirt. To get the encasement of dirt out of the cavern, I had the earth slimes widen the entrance before shoving it all the way out using energy meditation.
Once I removed its casing, the three who finally saw the crystal cluster seemed almost lost for words.
“Uh...” grunted Sebas.
“An impressive find, but I’m not sure what to do with it...” Reinbach said.
“If it wasn’t cursed, it would find its place in the royal treasury,” Sever added.
As expected, this magic gem was truly exceptional in rarity, quality, and size. None of the adults—who were well-versed in luxury items—could even guess how much it would sell for.
I, for one, can’t even imagine a number that high. No sense in selling it when it would cause a scene. I better keep it in my home forever.
“Ryoma, do you think I could take that magic gem off your hands?” Remily said, out of the blue.
“Take it off my hands?” My gut instinct was to turn down her offer.
But why? I was just thinking how selling it would draw unwanted attention, and Remily wasn’t necessarily asking for it for free... I didn’t think I was so attached to the gem already that I’d turn down her offer without hearing her out. Maybe because it’s such an expensive thing, I—
“Despell.” Remily’s spell cleared the fog in my mind that had resurfaced as I grappled with my conflicting emotions. Yet, the expressions of the adults were clouded. “I had a feeling the curse wasn’t broken,” Remily said.
“It was never broken? I thought I was just recursed.”
“If you had, my Curse Block would have been spent, and it felt off when I cast Despell on that magic gem. It’s hard to describe, but... It’s like it let me break its curse... I think the curse was broken, but I can’t be sure, and that’s creeping me out. By the way, a common symptom of a curse is an obsession with the item, like wanting to keep it close.”
So that was why she’d asked for the gem.
“It’s a rare enough piece that I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to keep it regardless, so I had more questions ready... But the biggest tell was you realizing the change in your own emotions, Ryoma,” she added.
“If we can’t be sure the curse is broken, we need to urgently see a warlock or an exorcist, or else a high-ranking priest,” Sever suggested.
“Definitely,” Remily agreed. “Unfortunately, there’s little more I can do. Despell, Curse Block, and a few rudimentary curses I used to practice... Those two are the only spells I know that have to do with curses. A silver lining may be that it’s not a curse that’s affecting his health, as far as I can tell. Do you feel off at all, Ryoma?”
Do I? I considered it. Since the moment Remily explained that my obsession with the gem was a possible curse symptom, I felt much less attached to the thing. Even my befuddlement had cleared with the second Despell. There was nothing off at all that I wondered if the curse really still lingered.
“Then there’s no terrible rush,” Remily answered. “Curses become less effective the more magical energy their targets possess. First things first, let’s get out of here.”
“I second that. This place is too glum for brainstorming,” Sever said.
“Let us go, then.” Reinbach turned to the stairs. “Right... Walking up those stairs will be a pain.”
“We’ll take Space magic back up,” Sebas suggested. “Now that the place isn’t swarming with Undead, it would make for a quick return.”
So, we left the tower behind, having finished our mission to explore the City of Lost Souls and gather midnight dew. Despite the unexpected encounter with a cursed magic gem, I was walking away with no discernible symptoms and a lot of loot to show for it.
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