Chapter 36: Tallying the Spoils

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Kana and the other two came ashore, dripping wet from head to toe, yet their smiles had not left their faces.

“Did you find anything?”

Blake looked at them. Their expressions were almost excessively cheerful.

He could not help wondering: could His Highness the Prince really have discovered some ruin filled with treasure beneath the water?

Kana smiled without answering. Reaching into his spatial cloth pouch, he took out a sapphire about the size of his palm.

While Blake was still staring at him in bewilderment, Kana placed it in his hand.

The moment Blake came to his senses, he hurriedly refused and tried to return the gemstone.

“No, Your Highness. This is far too valuable.”

Kana’s expression turned solemn. He stopped Blake from handing it back.

“This is what you deserve. You are a loyal and courageous knight. Take it. This is your reward.”

He then took six gold coins from his spatial belt pouch and placed them in Blake’s hand as well.

“These are for Rien and Kesha. The next time you see them, please give them to them on my behalf.”

Since the coins were meant for someone else, Blake found it difficult to refuse. He nodded solemnly and gave a formal bow.

Blake was not very good at offering praise. All he could say was, “You are truly a generous man.”

“Haha, all right. We are soaking wet, and this is hardly comfortable. Let us head back first.”

After bidding farewell to the merfolk, they took a boat back to the town.

As soon as they entered the town, a guard who appeared to have been waiting for them hurried over and called Blake away.

Kana and Aliris were both drenched. Fortunately, it was midday, and the season had only just passed summer, so the weather was not cold.

When they passed a tailor’s shop, Kana went inside. A short while later, he emerged carrying a cloak and handed it to Popot, who had been walking cautiously with her head lowered ever since they entered the town.

“Popot, I have a gift for you.”

Popot had been walking with her head slightly bowed, but now she raised it. She looked at the cloth in Kana’s hands and took it. Only then did she realize that it was a cloak. Delight appeared on her face, and she quickly draped it over herself.

Once she had covered herself, Popot relaxed considerably.

It was as though the gazes of the people around her had suddenly lessened.

She could not help thanking him. “Thank you, Kana. You really are a thoughtful friend.”

Kana merely smiled and said nothing more.

When they returned to the courtyard, the servants responsible for their care hurried to heat water and prepare clean clothes.

After washing and changing, Kana immediately hurried into his room.

Before entering, he said to Aliris, “If anyone comes looking for me, have them wait. I do not want to be disturbed right now.”

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Aliris nodded in complete understanding. She knew that His Highness had made a great discovery today and was extremely pleased.

In the courtyard, Popot asked Aliris, “Did you find a great deal today?”

Popot had watched everything along the way. Though she was curious, she had not dared to ask rashly.

After all, Kana had taken her in, but she was unfamiliar with both him and everyone else.

Even the round-eared ratfolk still possessed certain traits of rats.

Caution and timidity.

“His Highness is very pleased with what he found,” Aliris replied ambiguously rather than answering directly.

Seeing that Aliris did not wish to explain in detail, Popot did not press her. Instead, she began asking about Aliris’s experiences and life in this country.

Her principal occupation was still gathering and organizing accounts of the customs and experiences of the various continents and nations.

Aliris was more than happy to chat with Popot about such matters. It also gave her an opportunity to ask Popot about the outside world, which fascinated her greatly.

Especially now that it had been decided she would accompany His Highness the Prince on his travels.

Inside the room, Kana rushed in impatiently, locked the door, and sat down beside the table.

His first act was to take out the spatial belt pouch and carefully sort through everything they had found.

A silver alchemical shield—an excellent piece of equipment. Once his magical power recovered, he would convert it into data.

Nine ancient alchemical coins, ninety gold coins, and nine hundred silver coins.

That was an enormous sum. A warhorse cost only two gold coins, while a full suit of a knight’s plate armor, including the inner armor, also cost two gold coins.

Finely forged standard weapons generally cost anywhere from several dozen silver coins to a single gold coin.

One hundred copper coins equaled one silver coin, and one hundred silver coins equaled one gold coin.

The greatness of the decimal system.

Although exchange rates fluctuated from time to time, they generally remained around those values.

As for the ancient alchemical coins, their principal value lay in their collectability, though they were usually worth more than ten gold coins each.

There were also various gemstones and a number of alchemical materials. Kana found it difficult to estimate their value, since the prices of materials in the game obviously could not be compared with those in this world.

After all, materials in the game could be farmed endlessly. The only price was the strain on one’s patience.

But the effort required in a game and the effort truly needed to obtain these alchemical materials in reality were worlds apart.

Everything in the elder brother’s tomb chamber had been valuable in terms of wealth, apart from the Creation Stone, of course.

But the younger brother’s tomb chamber—the one belonging to the brother who had actually built the burial ground—contained something whose value could not be measured in riches.

A [Spherical Doll].

The foundation and origin from which the profession of [Puppet Master] had developed.

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An alchemy experiment manual. Every note and record within it concerned [Spherical Dolls]. Though it represented the origin of the craft, much of it had already fallen somewhat behind the development of the age.

Nevertheless, there was no denying that it remained exceptionally useful and durable.

A [Knowledge Crystal]—a palm-sized, pillar-shaped crystal.

It was an expensive relic passed down from the ancient Alchemical Empire, and it remained extraordinarily useful even now.

Knowledge could be stored within the crystal and rapidly absorbed by intelligent life, eliminating the tedious processes of reading and memorization.

In the game, players called it a [Skill Crystal].

If nothing unexpected had happened, it should contain the various fundamentals required before one could create a [Universal Artisan], most of them knowledge belonging to alchemists.

Within the game, it could roughly be compared to the qualification required to take up the secondary profession of [Alchemist].

It was also a prerequisite for unlocking the hidden profession of [Puppet Master].

At least for Kana, this expedition had yielded an astonishing fortune.

But what truly mattered most to him—what formed the foundation upon which his future rested—was this:

[Small Fragment of the Creation Stone]

This was the true heart of everything.

Kana gazed at the tiny fragment in his palm. It was only about the size of a thumb.

He examined it carefully. Though broken and irregular in shape, it still possessed two smooth facets.

Judging from their angle and the fragment’s size, it should be part of a triangular solid.

There were six Creation Stones in total, and each had a different shape:

A sphere, a triangular solid, a cylinder, a rhombus, a cube, and a six-pointed star.

By examining the characteristics revealed by various fragments, one could gather them together and assemble a complete Creation Stone, allowing it to display its true power perfectly.

Of course, very few people could accomplish such a feat.

Looking at the fragment of the Creation Stone in his hand, Kana took several deep breaths.

Come. It was time to strengthen his “cheat ability” once more.

He would continue along the path of data conversion from the game.

Since this was another world connected to the game, why not transform this world into a real game himself?

And the Creation Stone, belonging to the very source of the world, was the finest tool for such a transformation.

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