Saturday, 22nd of August. Ethereal - Dungeon Items Shop.

Today Luis come to the shop by himself. Zea said that she will come later after preparing some other things. They decided to sell some of the mana stones, cockatrice's beak, and the unknown potion. He also brings the sword to the shop. He wants to use the appraisal service of the shop.

"Welcome… Oh, it is Luis…" the owner's wife greeted Luis.

"Good afternoon aunty, is the owner not here?"

"He goes out to deliver something. He should be back in 10 or 20 minutes. You want to sell something?"

"Yes, I want to sell these things." He put 60 mana stones and a treasure chest on the counter. He opened the treasure chest and show the beak and the potion to the owner's wife. "I don't know what potion this is, but the beak is from a cockatrice."

"Only these? The sword on your back is not for sale?" she noticed that Luis bring a big sword on his back. She thought that Luis will also sell the sword.

"No, I only want to appraise this sword for now. Whether we will sell it or not… I will talk with Zea again to confirm it."

"Let's see… 60 mana stones is 40 dollars, the beak is 30 dollars, and the potion— Let's wait for the old man to come back to determine the price." She then picks the mana stones, and the beak before storing them in small storage beside the counter. She gives the treasure chest filled with the potion back to Luis. She also gives the money from the sale to Luis.

She then signaled Luis to sit on one of the chairs inside the store. These chairs are used when a guest wants to appraise an item. The guest and the owner sit face to face and discuss the item.

"So, how is life recently? Any exciting story?" She started to talk, maybe trying to dig some spicy gossip.

"Nothing special I guess."

"What about Zea? How is your relationship with her? You explore the dungeon together right? If you need any advi—" At this time the door of the shop opened. There is a customer that comes to the shop. "Don't forget to tell me the story later okay…"

"Sigh"

✦✦✦✦✦✦

The customer that comes is searching for many items. Because of that, the owner's wife is busy searching for the items.

"I am saved for now."

It is a lie if Luis never sees Zea as a possible romantic interest. But he wants to keep being a friend for now. 'I mean we only know each other for a week.'

"I am back," the owner's voices resonate in the building. He comes back through the front door. He noticed that his wife is busy so he approached her and help her look for the items.

Having nothing to do, Luis plays with his phone. He browsed through the social media, wasting time.

10 minutes passed in a blink. The owner is now moving toward Luis.

"I heard you want to appraise the sword?" The owner obviously notices the dark red sword that is now placed on the table. "Also you want to sell a potion right? Bring the potion on the table too."

Luis put the treasure chest on the table and opened it. The owner then picks it up and appraises it.

"You know what potion is this?" The owner asked Luis, to which Luis responded with a shake of his head.

"This is an antidote, and this one is a high-quality one."

"What kind of antidote? For poison?"

"Yes, many kinds of poisons. I am not sure about how many poisons the high-quality antidote can counter. But as it is a high-quality one it should be able to remove a rare poison.

"Then I will look at the sword.

"Oh— A good sword you have here. Are you sure you don't want to sell this? I am sure this can fetch a good price at auction.

"This sword name is 'Goblin Chieftain's Burning Sword'. This sword has two skills, [Burning Sword] and [User Cooling]." The owner finished his appraisal. "You know the two skills?"

"Yes, I have tried using it and indeed it has these skills. But the name of the sword and the skill is too direct is not it?"

"It is better to be direct name, imagine if the name is [Miracle Absolute Fire]. Can you imagine what kind of skill is that? Hahaha." The owner laughed at his own joke.

"Okay then, appraisal for two items, 55 dollars. I will deduct it from the antidote okay?"

"Eh— The price is down again."

"Yup, the number of [Appraisal] skill orbs on the market is increasing. If this continues, in 6 months I might lose this appraising job." The owner felt a little sad about this. "But it is okay, since I started the shop, this is a side job after all."

Hearing about [Appraisal], Luis remembered something. He asked the owner, "Owner, can I ask you something? When you appraise a weapon, can you see the damage of the weapon?"

"Damage? I don't think I have ever seen that… I also heard the rumor of that, but when I ask all of my acquaintances, no one ever sees the damage."

'So is the information wrong? Or is there a difference between appraisals? Level? Hmm… That might be the case, there is a difference in the level of [Appraisal]. Well, this is a wild guess so who knows if this is true.' Luis tried to think about the reason.

"Well, thank you very much. I think I will go back now. Oh right, Zea said that she will come here later. But I don't know what she is looking for." Luis tried to stand up and leave.

"Wait a minute, we are not finished with the selling of the antidote." The owner stopped Luis. "How about 2000 dollars? This is an antidote, so different from the health potion, it is low in demand. Even a high-quality antidote can't sell really high."

Luis wanted to increase the price of the antidote when he noticed that the other customer is walking toward them. That customer is a young man with glasses on his face. He uses a long-sleeved sky blue shirt. His face shows that he is a little tired. There is a faint smile that he uses when he starts talking.

"Uhm— I accidentally heard your conversation and I'm sorry to interrupt you two. To cut it short, can you sell that antidote to me?" The young man asked Luis.

"Eh— I can sell it to you but how much are you willing to pay?" Luis asked back.

"A high-quality antidote is… Please wait a minute." The young man opened his phone and operate it at high speed. "I can buy it for 6000 dollars. But any more than that—"

"Deal," Luis cut the young man. He doesn't care what will the young man says after. 6000 dollars is enough for him. And this is much better compared to the measly 2000 dollars from the owner. "Sorry I might ask something rude. I noticed that you are buying many items, why?"

"No, it is not rude at all. I buy this to research all the items related to the dungeon."

"Research? All by yourself?"

"No, I am a member of the Goldensand Royal University, Dungeon Research Department. We do research together there." He then reached for his pocket, and take a card from there. The young man gives a card each to both Luis and the owner. "Here is my card name."

On the card is written the address of the Dungeon Research Department and the name of the young man. He is called Ian Davidson. On the backside of the name card is the contact number for Ian Davidson and the Dungeon Research Department.

"So where should I transfer the money?"

"Wait, you can transfer it here." Luis opened his phone and showed his bank account number to Mr. Davidson. Not long after, there is a notification from his e-banking account.

"Okay, I have received the money. You can take the antidote now." Luis gives the treasure chest to the young man. After checking the inside, Ian Davidson nodded and said thanks to Luis.

"No need to thanks me. Rather, it should be me that said thanks to you," said Luis.

"And one more thing, I heard that you are not selling the sword? Is there a chance that you will change your mind?"

"As of now, we are not planning to sell this. But if we decided to sell the sword, I will contact you first." Luis said this while waving the name card gently.

Finished with the business with Luis, Ian goes back to the counter. Looking at Aunty that is now standing on the counter and using the cashier machine, looks like all the items have been sorted. Only the payment is left.

Luis also has finished all that he needs to do. He tried to stand and prepare to leave, but the owner stopped him. "Wait a minute, there is still something you need to do here."

"Hmm?"

"Pay the appraisal fee. 2 items 55 dollars."

"But I pay it from deducting the antidote's sale— Ah"