Chapter 292: We Found a Treasure? (1/2)

I could see a scratch on the magic stone. That was most likely made by my shovel just now. I better take care not to scratch it any further. While thinking that to myself, I tried to dig the stone out. It was about one finger tall and two fingers wide, and judging by its color, it was a magic stone of the dark element. Just to be sure, however, I double checked it with Identify, and true enough, it was a dark magic stone.

However, it turned out there was more than just one magic stone. In the process of digging one out, more magic stones appeared. It might have been because I’d enchanted my shovel with Break Rock that the earth broke, and I was easily able to spot them. There were some bigger than the magic stone I got first too.

…Was it the abundance of mana coming from these stones that I felt? …For the meantime, I decided to inform the others.

“Guys! I found a bunch of magic stones! Dark magic stones!” [Ryouma]

At my call, everyone else came to take a peek inside the hole which I’ve dug. When I noticed that, I casually threw the magic stone to them, and Sebasu-san took it and used Identify on it. He spoke in admiration.

“This is indeed a 1st Grade dark magic stone.” [Sebasu]

The other three gave their take too. 1st Grade. My Identify couldn’t figure out that much. It must be of high quality, but just how high is it? I was curious, so I tried asking him about it, and apparently magic stones were categorized into Type-1, Type-2, and Type-3, then there were six grades within each type that defined the quality of the magic stone.

Type-1 included light, electricity, and wood.

Type-2 included darkness, poison, and ice.

Type-3 included fire, water, wind, earth, and neutral.

These ‘types’ were divided according to the rarity of the magic stones with Type-1 being the rarest and most expensive and Type-3 being the most common and most affordable. As for the dimension element, no one has ever seen a magic stone of its element, so it’s not categorized under any of the types.

The price of magic stones for the same element double every time they go up a grade. The type-3 magic stones would be priced as such.

1st Grade: 32,000 suits up

2nd Grade: 16,000 suits up

3rd Grade: 8,000 suits up

4th Grade: 4,000 suits up

5th Grade: 2,000 suits up

6th Grade: Less than 2,000 suits

5th Grade is the minimum grade of magic stone that can be used for making a staff, while 6th Grade are often used by commoners to operate affordable magic tools. They’re like batteries.

6th Grade are sometimes sold with the magic stone fragments produced in the process of making wands using magic stones of 5th grade or greater, which are often referred to as ‘Magic Stone Scraps’.

The higher the grade, the more mana the magic stone contains; hence, the more uses. That’s why the price is like that.

Type-2 is rarer so the price difference is about three times. But just because a magic stone is Type-2 doesn’t necessarily mean it’s more expensive than Type-3.

1st Grade: 96,000 suits up

2nd Grade: 48,000 suits up

3rd Grade: 24,000 suits up

4th Grade: 12,000 suits up

5th Grade: 6,000 suits up

6th Grade: Less than 6,000 suits.

Even a Type-3 magic stone can be more expensive than a Type-2 if the quality is high enough.

But in this case…

“Umm, so that magic stone is of the dark element, so that makes it Type-2 and its quality is of the 1st Grade. Since both element and grade are top notch, it must be really expensive then.” [Ryouma]

“Yes. It’s hard to obtain high-quality magic stones, so when something good is sold, all sorts of people, from mages to artisans, will come to try and make the purchase. A magic stone with this level of quality is quite rare, and the price I told you about is actually just the lowest price. If sold to the right place, it could go for two to three times that value.” [Sebasu]

“I was actually looking for a dark magic stone too since I need to make a new staff, so if you don’t mind, I’d love to purchase it from you.” [Remilie]

That price was the lowest possible price!? That’s 100,000 suits rounded up for just one of those, you know! That’s a lot of money! And yet Remilie-san wants to purchase it just like that!?

“Umm… Sebasu-san.” [Ryouma]

“Yes, what is it?” [Sebasu]

“There’s actually still a ton of magic stones further inside this hole…” [Ryouma]

It would be an understatement to say that he was shocked to find that there were still more of similar quality, so for the meantime, it was decided that I would continue digging out the stones.

I took out my earth slimes and dark slimes from my Dimension Home and got them to help. At first, I intended to just get the earth slimes’ help, but the dark slimes wanted to go out too. Apparently, they wanted to absorb the mana here.

I let them feed off my mana from time to time too, but apparently, that’s more like a snack to them, and for a proper meal, they’d much prefer to feed from nature. Looks like this place makes for a good feeding ground for them.

The earth slimes dug out a hole with their earth magic, while my dark slime gathered the stones, and I transported them. The four adults outside our hole took the bag and used Identify on the stones. After mining about 22 dark magic stones of various sizes, that feeling I’d almost forgotten about returned.

“!” [Ryouma]

Drawn by that sensation, I cast an earth spell to dig in that direction, and before long, I saw it.

“…It’s so big…” [Ryouma]

It was like a black pillar, being about 60cm tall, and it was surrounded by magic stones of varying sizes. It was more beautiful than any stone until now, and it emanated powerful mana.

“!?” [Ryouma]

I found myself reaching out for it, but the moment I tried to do so, an indescribably powerful chill enveloped my body. I jumped back so fast that I might have actually been faster than my heart rate rising. Sweat poured out of my body in buckets.

What was that just now? Is that stone dangerous?

“Ryouma-chan? Did something happen? —You’re sweating like crazy! What happened!?” [Remilie]

Remilie-san shone light on my face from above with light magic.

“I saw a really big magic stone just now, but I got a bad feeling when I approached it…” [Ryouma]

“Ryouma-chan, get out for a bit.” [Remilie]

The tone behind her voice suggested that she wouldn’t take no for an answer. I left the hole with my slimes as she instructed, but I did so with painful reluctance. I just couldn’t get my mind away from that big black pillar of a magic stone. However, by thinking about that chill earlier, I managed to stop hesitating and was able to successfully crawl out of the hole.