Chapter 62 – The Best Merchant Kim Min-cheol

I had to obtain a powerful shield.

To do so, I had to get enough essences to purchase one.

While talking with Jong Ho, something came to me!

It was the Lizardman’s Gauntlet.

I wasn’t able to obtain the best gauntlet I could, but I had a few mid to high mid rarity gauntlets.

I could just sell these.

I went into my room with Jong Ho and brought the box sitting in a corner.

“Hyung. Do you think I can get some essences with this?”

Opening the box cover, Jong Ho couldn’t help but be surprised.

Lizardman’s Gauntlet could only be obtained from defeating the level 28 dungeon boss, and there were 5 of them in there.

His hands were shaking as he held them.

“What… What are all these?”

“What do you think they are? Lizardman’s Gauntlets of course.”

“Yeah I’m aware. Where did they all come from is what I’m asking.”

“Guess they drop a lot more frequently than I thought?”

The rarity of the gauntlet was due to the low number of Awakened that could manage to clear the level 28 dungeon.

The actual drop rate from the boss wasn’t that low.

The best one that could drop would offer me 20% magic resistance, but the one I was wearing gave 18%.

All the ones gathered in the box were of lower quality.

Jong Ho began to equip each of the gauntlets, noting the stats and resistances it gave.

Until you equipped the item, the stats could not be checked, so he was equipping them to approximate the worth of each gauntlet.

He put a post-it on each of the 5 gauntlets, and then he turned to speak to me.

“With this, it seems you won’t have to worry about the essences.”

“Really?”

“Of course! The lowest quality ones have a 10% magic resistance stat, but all of these have over 14%.”

“Okay. Let’s go sell them right away.”

“Firstly, we should sell the two highest ones at 16%, each under a separate ID and to make the deal in person. As for the other three, you should ask that midget friend of yours for help. If you put out so many amazing goods at once, especially 5 of them, it would draw unnecessary attention.”

“Yes. I thought they would sell for pretty penny, so I was collecting them. Are each of them worth an essence?”

“Looks like the average gauntlet offers 15% magic resistance, and go for 1 essence each. For the ones that don’t reach 15%, we could cover up the difference with money to receive the essences.”

“Wow. They’re worth more than I thought. I’ll have to start hunting again tomorrow, so let’s take care of this today.”

“Agreed.”

****

Since the item was rare to the point where none were on the market, it took less than an hour after putting it up on the trade website for tons of messages to arrive.

I already asked the midget to take care of the two 15% ones, as well as the one that is 14%.

Since the market had already set the price, there was no need to use any of the black market routes.

I just have to use two Awakened IDs provided by the midget to go vendor them.

The midget had already succeeded in selling two of the gauntlets.

The gauntlets we decided to sell on our own were worth twice in value.

It was only 1% higher than the average 15%, but the cost had doubled.

It was possible for us to get two essences for each gauntlet.

I almost felt bad for putting them in a worn out cardboard box.

And since this equipment was so rare to the point that it didn’t exist on the market, some of the messages sent to us said they would offer up to 3 essences for each of them.

If I took my time and sold them by using basic market principles of supply and demand, I could probably get even more than that.

However, I could get more gauntlets as I pleased, and I needed a new shield spell as quickly as possible, so I settled on getting 3 essences for each of them.

“Hyung, should we use the midget’s office as a trade location?”

“Do you like that place so much? I heard you even set the Warp spell there?”

“I dunno. It’s just comfortable there.”

“Well, there is no reason to meet with them here and give away information on our personal lives. It’s probably better to take care of it over there.”

“Then I’ll go contact them right now.”

****

The clock was showing 4pm.

The sky could not ignore the change of season, and was already becoming darker outside.

I arrived at the office where the deal would take place, as well as the 3 essences the midget obtained from selling the mid-tier gauntlets.

Since I had to purchase the shield soon, I brought Jong Ho as well.

Jong Ho and the midget had already greeted each other over the phone. The information regarding what skill books to buy using the black market was passed on as well during the call.

We finally arrived at the office.

“Welcome. So you’ve arrived.”

“Yes. Hello.”

“I’ve only introduced myself via phone. My name is Lee Jong Ho.”

“Yes, yes. Glad to meet you.”

“The last one hasn’t been sold yet?”

“The buyer said they will be arriving within 30 min. For now, please take this.”

He went towards his desk and retrieved a check, as well as two awakened essences.

I thought that check was for the 14% gauntlet that needed some money added onto the deal to make it worth an essence.

However, the check I received was something I did not expect in the slightest.

Staring at the check in disbelief, I heard the midget speak.

“Well… the market price was set at one essence per gauntlet, but since it was such a rare item, the price offered was more than what we expected. The additional money we received aside from the essence as well as the extra money from the buyer arriving soon should add up to something, even if it’s not worth an entire essence.”

“Oho…?”

The midget was acting completely different from what I knew him as.

Following my orders, all he had to do was give 3 essences as promised.

But he was trying to give me the extra money he received from the dealers as well.

“Is business going well for you?”

The midget couldn’t help but be flustered at my words, and seeing the whole ordeal, Jong Ho couldn’t help but laugh.

Disbelief couldn’t be helped, as the midget I knew only cared about money.

But showing me a side of him like this, I couldn’t help but feel awkward as well.

Perhaps ashamed, he gave a smile.

“Haha… That… They say even hatred is a form of caring. Our relations didn’t start off very well, but in the hopes that our partnership will prosper, I was hoping you’d take his as an apology…”

“Well sure. I am benefiting from this partnership. And I’m sure I’ll need a lot more from you in the future ahead.”

“Of course. That’s true.”

“But…..”

He was trying to determine my mood.

His smile was replaced with a serious look.

“I won’t take this money. Please use this to cover some of the debts.”

“What… Didn’t you already repay all of the debt?”

“I’m sure there are a lot more than just me.”

“……”

“As I said before, how about changing your occupation to being a middleman for trades? It makes quite the earnings, you know? And all three of you are Awakened.”

“I understand what you’re saying. The extra money will be used to clear up the debts of others.”

“Yes. Think carefully. With this much money, I think they could all be taken care of.”

I’m not trying to live like some nameless saints who donate massive amounts of money secretly, trying to pay off the debts of others.

It was because money held no meaning for me anymore.

But there was no reason to let others to suffer like my mother and I did due to money.

And I also wanted to give this midget another chance, since he didn’t seem like a bad person at his core.

Almost as if ventilating the heavy air the office was filled with, the door opened and the gauntlet buyer entered.

“I’m here to buy the gauntlet.”

****

“Hm… Guess we just have to wait?”

So far, 10 essences were collected from selling all the essences.

This was a lot more than all the essences I’ve obtained so far.

Just looking at how much essences I had, I thought I wouldn’t need the mimic to reappear.

To think that I was able to get essences this easily with the level 28 dungeon runs that I could clear with ease.

After defeating the radical faction first, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad life to settle down selling gauntlets for a living.

The wait didn’t last long.

Both the midget and brawler class goon entered the office hurriedly.

“Huff, huff…. Here it is.”

“Thank you. You worked hard.”

The skill book was handed off to Jong Ho, who scanned it using his smartphone.

“While the cost was high, thankfully there are many of it readily available on the market.”

-Iron Skin-

Usable Class: Warrior. Paladin. Brawler. (If obtained by other classes, the mana cost increases tenfold)

Mana Cost: 10% of total mana

Skill Introduction: *A shield that absorbs damage appears.

*Attackers who hit the shield has a chance to become immobilized.

*As the skill’s level increases, the shielded amount as well as the duration increases.

*Able to defend against (???) ranking skills and lower.

Cooldown: 120 seconds.

Duration: 60 seconds. (Per 20 levels, the duration increases by 5%.)

Skill Rank: Defensive rank S

Estimated Skill Book Value: ???

That was the information on the skill book showing up the smartphone’s screen.

The reason why the cost was so high was because it was a skill that was used often by tankers.

No matter how many stat points you invest into HP, no tankers could last without shields.

Another important factor was that instead of consuming a specific amount of MP, it used up 10% of total MP.

Usually only offensive skills had % mana consumption, but it was different for Iron Skin.

It was a warrior class shield skill that consumed % of the user’s mana.

So even a level 1 Awakened could benefit from the incredible amount of defense this shield provided.

“Whew. This cost us 5 essences?”

“It may look weak to you, but as it is an S ranking skill, it provides an insane amount of shielding. And the duration increases as you level it up too.”

“Hm… Let’s say I reach level 200 with this. I guess there will be a 30 seconds gap that I will have to cover with another shield.”

“Yes. And we didn’t get the other skill book today, but that skill book is a skill that could fill that 30 second gap.”

The midget’s group spoke up.

“Um… Using Piercing Sword and Heal, as well as Lightning Spray… Are you a Third class?”

“Ah…..”

When I went into the dungeon to give these goons a good thrashing, I didn’t think ahead and just used a bunch of skills.

The Third class he was talking about was a class with two subclasses, having a total of three classes.

Jong Ho and I didn’t even know of its existence before.

We only learned of it while investigating how Joker had a subclass.

They probably do exist out there, but not much was known about them.

Similar to the skills that were beyond ranking.

“Ah… Well, it’s just that my mana regen is a bit fast. That’s why I’m able to use skills from many classes.”

“Ah.. That’s why. It just seemed odd how all the skills you were purchasing up until now had class requirements that were all over the place. It made me very curious as to why.”

Hearing his words, Jong Ho and I gave each other a knowingly smile as our eyes met.

It was probably because Jong Ho himself was tricked like this before as well.

With an amused look, I asked Jong Ho.

“What’s the other skill you were talking about before?”

그로기 status: Due to shock from a heavy physical attack, the user is unable to move their body. A term used in the field of hand to hand combat.