Chapter 143 – Black Market Twelfth Shopping

Black Market Twelfth Shopping

[Low Mana]

The Operator let out a warning as Sungjin looked down at his hand.

“Hrm…”

He adapted to it faster than he had thought he would, perhaps because the events had occurred exactly at the same time.

‘After I use it one or two more times… I should be able to utilize it perfectly.’

Sungjin looked at the fallen troll as he thought. Two items were laid out in front of the troll. He gathered up both of them and placed them inside the cube.

“Operator, how long until I’m summoned back to the Black Market?”

[14 minutes and 8 seconds.]

There was still some time remaining even after he completed everything that he could be doing. Sungjin once again held the Sceptre of the Warlord and looked at the other hunters.

“Inspection”

The first to kill the hidden boss, Serin Han, was already inside a shop in the Black Market eating a slice of cheesecake. In other words, she had achieved 100% Raid Progression after killing all of the remnant soldiers that were still alive.

‘As expected… Is this the power of Arabian Nights?’

Mahadas and Nada’s party that he had intervened were

[Your contribution is…]

receiving their rewards. It seemed that this side had also achieved 100% completion. The interesting part was that from Nada’s cube, the figure of Mahadas could be seen, and from Mahadas’ cube, the figure of Nada could be seen.

‘Now that I think about it… It’s the first time I’m seeing more than one ‘Chosen One’ in the same party. Even though it’s because I just went and baptized one of them.’

Baltren and Franz, who had been progressing a bit slowly, had killed the hidden boss and were searching for the leftover mobs. Seeing as all five members were alive in both parties, they would easily be able to achieve 100% completion in the remaining time.

‘If things are like this… They shouldn’t need any help.’

Having confirmed this, Sungjin called out to the Operator and said,

“Operator, send me to the Black Market now.”

The Operator immediately accepted his request.

[Teleporting to the Black Market in 10 seconds.]

The Operator seemed to be reasonably flexible as long as the main objective of the raid was completed.

*

‘Clack’

The ice cubes in the coffee melted and made some noise. Sungjin, as always, sat in the cafe ‘First Drop’ and organized the items.

‘6000 to 7000 for this…’

Among those items was the ‘Swift Paw’ that he had been using. Sungjin held up those wolf’s paws and wondered,

‘Would anyone buy this…’

In reality, as it was a Heroic rank item, it would not sell well. This was because most of the hunters that had survived until now would have ‘Heroic’ or ‘Legendary’ tier items for almost all parts.

‘For now, I should try putting it up for 2000 to 3000, and if someone buys it, then good. Otherwise, I can just sell it at the store.’

Thought Sungjin, as he placed the item in the cube. Having finished his calculations, Sungjin exited the cafe and walked towards the Auction House.

“Welcome, Dear Hunter.”

As always, the Auction House was presided over by the three pig siblings. After Sungjin placed the items up for sale, he asked them,

“How is it? The number of items in the Auction House has fallen down recently, right?”

“Unfortunately, yes it has. Since the total number of hunters has decreased.”

Upon hearing this, Sungjin thought,

“As expected… There isn’t much time left for this, either.”

The number of hunters decreases as the chapters continued to pass. At the end of Chapter 11, there were about 100,000 hunters. After the end of the incredibly difficult Chapter 14, that number would decrease to less than half.

Furthermore, by the end of the next 10 man raid in Chapter 17, the hunters would be running into people they had already met before. Due to his prior experience, Sungjin knew about this well.

‘Until then I have to earn as much as I can… Though strictly speaking, I don’t really have anything to use it on.’

Still, Sungjin asked the pig siblings just to make sure.

“By chance, are there any legendary items up for sale?”

“Ah, yes, there are. Would you like to see the list?”

“Yes.”

Many types of items appeared in front of Sungjin’s eyes. However, most of the items that appeared were weapons. This was because everyone would wear armor, and sell the weapons that they didn’t use.

‘I guess there isn’t any point in looking.’

There was no point since Sungjin already had 3 Unique Legendary weapons. Though it would be a different case if there were 3 Ariane’s on sale. However, since it was a weapon that he had made, from the beginning, there wouldn’t be more than 1 in existence. Sungjin shook his hand and said,

“There’s nothing to buy… As always, send me the receipts of items that sell.”

“Yes, Dear Hunter”

Afterwards, Sungjin visited Kargos’s smithy. He had obtained two enhancement stones from the last raid, and another two from this raid. Sungjin first handed Ariane to him and said,

“Please upgrade this to Unique Legendary. That’s possible right?”

“Hrm, yes. It’ll take more effort, but… Well, I get it.”

“And…”

Sungjin took off the earring that he had worn on his ear and showed it to Kargos.

“Is it also possible for this to have its tier upgraded? It’s a heroic earring…”

That was none other than ‘Trite – Eye of Jeremiah’. The item that can read one’s surface level thoughts. Because the duration was only 10 seconds, it would be good if the tier could be increased. Kargos received the two items and said,

“There’s no reason I can’t.”

“How much for the two?”

“It’ll be 13,000.”

“I’ll pay now.”

Sungjin used the Black Coins that he received from this raid’s distribution to pay off the expenses of the two upgrades.

“Then, as always, I’ll come in the morning.”

“Sure.”

Sungjin left Kargos’s smithy and looked up at the sky. The sky in the Black Market was always clear and blue.

Now there wasn’t much time left until the ‘Demon King’s Castle Raid’ where the hunters had first failed. Also, the Merchant of Darker than Black had said the final chapter wasn’t far off from the ‘Demon King’s Castle Raid’.

‘Then… That means that the final raid itself isn’t that far off…’

Until then, he wanted to prepare the strongest party and remove all uncertainties. From that perspective, this raid was truly successful.

He had achieved 100% raid progression alone, successfully hunted trolls, properly used Time Reversal in an actual fight, and more; however, the most important thing he had done probably was recruiting Mahadas.

Sungjin had wondered what he should do if he couldn’t meet Mahadas again. Thankfully Mahadas was still alive and, of all things, it was possible for them to meet through ‘Inspection’ since he was in the same party as Nada.

Judging an individual’s characters is incredibly difficult. It was fortunate that he had been able to recruit someone as qualified as Mahadas.

‘It really did go well.’

After returning to ‘Ninety Nine Nights’, Sungjin used Sceptre of the Warlord and called together the ‘Chosen Ones’. Of course, the new recruit was included amongst them.

“Please take care of me.”

Upon seeing the calm, blue-eyed man clasping his hands together, the original members were a bit awkward at first, but they soon became aware his good-naturedness and began to get along well.

With this, there was a total of 5 ‘Chosen Ones’. The party now became a group of six, with four positions remaining. The remaining positions were both a source of anticipation and anxiety.

‘I have to fill up the positions with decent people in the remaining time…’

That wouldn’t be easy. This was because it wouldn’t be easy to find skilled and, more importantly, trustworthy hunters.

That was why he had entrusted ‘Eye of Jeremiah’ to Kargos. However, regardless of whether it was 10 seconds or 10 minutes, it was an absolutely insufficient amount of time to be able to come to an understanding about an unfamiliar person’s character. No matter whether you’re able to read that person’s surface level thoughts or not.

‘It would really be great if I could meet someone I knew.’

What immediately came to mind were the trustworthy people from the previous final 10; Hildebrandt and Mustafa. He would readily give them two positions. Since a tank position and a magician position still needed to be filled, it would be just perfect if those two came.

Sungjin had Nada, Mahadas, and Baltren, who had not contributed white coins yet, kiss the ring once dinner was over.

Since he had used two Holy Waters after earning three previously from the ‘Red Dragon’s Lair’, he now only had one remaining. If he used the White Coins he received from them to buy a Holy Water, then he would have exactly four.

Four Holy Waters to prepare the new final 10 people. The three hunters were surprised by the 10% penalty to future raid rewards but did not particularly refuse.

“I’ll do it. Since the others did it, I can’t be the only one who didn’t.”

“Well… If it’s for the team, then I’ll gladly do what I have to do.”

“Amitabha.”

As they were all ‘Chosen Ones’, like Franz, they thought of it as something like a tax to gain the increased stats. After dinner was over, the hunters dispersed and returned to their own dimension.

Now by himself, Sungjin returned to the bedroom after collecting the sales receipt from the mail man. The amount he had received from the sales was roughly 70,000 Black Coins. Though the selling price of each item had increased, there were a lot of items that failed to sell. Especially the heroic tier items, ‘Swift Paw’ included, did not sell well.

‘As I thought.’

However, it wasn’t a particularly large blow, since most of the Black Coins that he earned were used to purchase Elixirs.

Even if it turned out that he earned fewer Black Coins, if you considered the stat bonus from ‘Lathion – Star of Solitude’ then it would be as if there was no effect from earning fewer Black Coins.

‘Well, getting upgrades from Kargos should pretty much be covered from the raid reward distribution… If there’s still a place that’s worth using Black Coins on…’

It would be for learning Class 9 Spells, other than the Blue Magic ‘Time Reversal’. However, the prices of Class 9 Spells were too high that Sungjin would have to save for about two chapters if he wanted to buy them.

‘Compared to spending over 100,000 Black Coins in order to learn them, it’s better to just buy Elixirs and drink it. That way, it can also be of help to the other hunters.’

This was how Sungjin felt. From the beginning, he could not use class 9 spells without activating ‘Ring of the Great Sage’ anyway. It was a better use of his resources to stick with and get more proficient at using ‘Time Reversal’.

*

Again, it was four thirty at dawn. Sungjin placed three White Coins on the table and said curtly,

“Three Holy Waters.”

The Merchant of Darker than Black placed them into his vest and in turn took out three vials of Holy Waters. Sungjin wordlessly placed them into his Cube. At that time, the Merchant said,

“For some reason, it feels like you’ve gotten less wordy.”

Sungjin replied coolly,

“No news is good news. Recharge the Trollseeker Marbles… and I’ll exchange the remainder of my coins for Elixirs.”

The Merchant recharged the Trollseeker Marbles and accordingly took out an appropriate amount of Elixirs for the coins Sungjin had left and placed it in front of Sungjin. Sungjin gathered the marbles and downed the Elixir in one go. Meanwhile, the merchant asked,

“How are you these days? If you’re that strong, then raids should be easy now, right?”

“Well… Yeah.”

“Kuku, I see.”

Sungjin was about to get up from his seat having finished all of his business. However, all of a sudden, a question came to mind.

“By the way, is there anyone that comes to this place besides me?”

“Someone that comes to this place?”

“Yeah. Another hunter. For example…”

As Sungjin’s words trailed off, the Merchant’s figure changed. Blonde hair and blue eyes. The figure of the beautiful youth, Edward.

“Are you talking about this person?”

Sungjin creased his forehead and said,

“Yeah. That person.”

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