Episode 30.17

"Huh? We're not heading straight for the dungeon?"

"Gotta drop by trade facility first."

"Hee?"

Today it's just Lecan and Arios going out.

<Grindam> bunch were completely wasted this morning after excessive drinking last night. Lecan figured that out last night.

Getting overboard the first day of cooperative diving is fine. Their stamina should be filled right back up after a day rest, they can challenge the dungeon again at full power tomorrow.

(I'll rein it loose in the beginning.)

(Then tighten it harder little by little.)

(First we need to go beyond floor 100.)

(With those three.)

(That day won't be long.)

They got to the trading facility, there Lecan asked to have some of his items appraised.

<Appraisal> magic has many layers to it.

Information that comes up can differ depending the user's knowledge and the kind of focus they put on it.

Like say <Endurance>, the result will differ depending on whether you appraise only the blade part or the whole sword.

Appraisers in this facility are all pretty much masters of their craft.

It's only natural since they are people tasked to work at the Grand Dungeon Tsubolt.

For this occasion, Lecan wishes to learn how the numerical values work.

He can tell <Offense>, <Sharpness>, <Endurance> of a weapon with <Appraisal>, but they only look like lumps of mist to him, deciphering them into numbers require experience. He doesn't absolutely need those numbers for items in his possession, but knowing them would be handy for sorting and classifying stuff. He'd also like to understand the rough meaning of those numbers.

Hence, Lecan plans to have several of his swords appraised, then appraise them himself to compare the results.

The counters are mostly empty, perhaps because it's still early in the morning.

Lecan picked a counter with a veteran-looking elderly appraiser and waited in line.

It got to his turn before long.

First, he asked to have a sword he got in this dungeon's middle layer appraised. It's got no Grace, but Lecan's Appraisal shows that it's a very high quality long sword. He paid one big silver coin for the appraisal.

"State your name and party name."

The thin gray haired elderly spoke. He's quite at an advanced age, yet strong lights dwell in his eyes.

"Lecan. Party <Willard>."

The elderly man readied his slim long wand, recited preliminary casting and <Appraisal> spell, and then wrote down the result on a piece of paper. How these appraisers don't carelessly speak the results out loud is another good thing about this place.

The paper got <Client: Lecan>, <Affiliation: Willard> written on top, then date, and <Appraiser in Charge: Termin> on the margin below.

<Name: None>

<Type: Sword>

<Offense: 55>

<Hardness: 34>

<Firmness: 41>

<Sharpness: 70>

<Wear Rate: None>

<Endurance: 80>

<Spawn Spot: Dungeon Tsubolt Floor 61>

<Maker:>

<Depth: 61>

<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka.com >

A greatsword he got in Dungeon Golbul had 9 Sharpness, and around 10 Offense. If 10 offense is good enough for a great sword, a normal sized long sword having 55 offense is just splendid. However, this sword's actual offense will differ depending on the wielder. Offense number is like the potential strength that can be drawn out of a weapon depending on how it's used, and it may sound obvious, but a 55 offense long sword does not mean it has 5.5 the power of a 10 offense great sword regardless of the wielder. Great swords are usually more powerful.

"What's Wear Rate?"

"Chips on blade, wear and tear."

"That means the number will also decrease if it's sharpened."

"Indeed. However, it can never go back to <None> state once it's been used. The sword will break once the number reaches 100."

"Hou."

That's a nice info. He's got to appraise this Wear Rate whenever he does appraisal from now on.

Lecan heard about <Endurance> from Chaney's subordinate back then. 100 is the maximum number, but in reality a weapon's Endurance starts at far below 100 number right after its creation. This can never go up even if you do maintenance on them, it's a one way road down. It's pretty much a sword's life expectancy. However, a well maintained weapon won't have their <Endurance> go down as easily.

Lecan can hazard a guess on <Hardness> and <Firmness>.

What's a mystery to him is the attribute <Depth>.

"What's <Depth>."

"The depth of existence."

"What? Make it clear."

"A building has part visible to naked eyes and foundation part hidden beneath the ground. The deeper that buried part, the more solid a building is. This sword has a form visible to naked eyes, but its foundation form exists in the world of gods, human eyes cannot fathom that. That invisible part can be read by high level <Appraisal>. That is <Depth>."

Lecan digested on the meaning of those words.

"So you're telling me, the deeper the <Depth>, the harder this sword wears down?"

"Not exactly. In case of swords, deep <Depth> or high <Endurance> do not matter if it has low <Hardness> and <Firmness>, its <Wear Rate> will shoot up fast. However, higher <Endurance> affords slower <Wear Rate> gain. And with deeper <Depth>, comes slower decline of <Endurance>, and harder road to zero."

"So in short, the blade can still chip and get duller easily even if it's got deep <Depth>, but it won't break as easily."

"Indeed."

"This sword's got the same <Depth> as the floor it was dropped at, is that a coincidence."

"It is not a coincidence. With dungeon goods, <Spawn Spot> corresponds to their <Depth> in the majority of cases. As such, swords obtained on deep floors are highly reliable regardless of their performance. Though unfortunately, that doesn't translate to higher price."

"Hold it. Then what about swords made by humans, what's their <Depth> like?"

"Human-made swords commonly have <Depth> in the range of one to ten. In exchange, swords made by mastersmiths have other qualities that are not <Appraisal>-able such as ease of use which raise their merits as swords."

After that exchange, Lecan got several more swords appraised.

Lastly he had <Sword of Rusk> and <Sword of Agost> appraised.

As they were both made by humans, he didn't have much expectations on their <Depth>.

However, the dignified look of the appraiser turned into surprise when he appraised <Sword of Rusk>. Which then turned stern after he appraised <Sword of Agost>.

He passed over the appraisal results to Lecan.

<Name: Sword of Rusk>

<Type: Sword>

<Offense: 32>

<Hardness: 51>

<Firmness: 55>

<Sharpness: 60>

<Wear Rate: 4>

<Endurance: 63>

<Spawn Spot:>

<Maker: Rusk>

<Depth: 112>

<Name: Sword of Agost>

<Type: Greatsword>

<Offense: 59>

<Hardness: 88>

<Firmness: 64>

<Sharpness: 25>

<Wear Rate: 2>

<Endurance: 99>

<Spawn Spot:>

<Maker: Agost>

<Depth: 96>