"So how much, in Cleon, would you want for that wand?"

  Charlie’s eyes narrowed, and he sighed again, annoyingly pondering my question. After about a dozen seconds, which gave me the strange feeling that he was considering what exaggerated price he would give, because frankly, why would you, a shopkeeper, have a wand clearly for sale but not have a designated price for it?—he finally answered.

  "450 ?," he said.

  That sounded like an actually fair price, at least when compared to the amount he quoted for the repair of Misfortune. But then again, there was a high chance that the repair price was exaggerated. That repair price wasn't cheap, and it was very expensive, even for my taste, but it was a price I was willing to pay to have Misfortune repaired. If it were just the price of a new wand with similar properties as Misfortune, I would never have agreed to that price, I only did because it was Misfortune that I wanted to see repaired.

  Had this been a civilized purchase, one that didn't begin with him literally molesting me with his skill, I might have, in my generous nature, accepted that price as it was. But at that moment, crossing my fingers into an X, I shook my head.

  "I'm not lowering that price. 450 ? is the lowest I will go," he said, crossing his arms in response.

  We stood there for a whole minute, just staring at one another. Seeing that he wouldn't give in, I eventually said, "Alright, fine by me. No need to lower your price." I reached for Misfortune's shaft, putting it back in my wand holder, and began to collect the shattered gemstone pieces back into the little pouch I had stored them in. "I was only here to repair my wand, which couldn't be done, so I believe that's all for us today," I said, finishing collecting the shards. I turned around, not saying a word but making it clear through my actions that I was about to leave. As I took a few steps toward the door, I heard him say, "440."

  Hearing the words I had been expecting, I slowed my pace but pretended not to hear a thing, continuing to make my way toward the door. As I reached the doorstep, I heard a much better price, "430."

  At that moment, I made a slow and deliberate turn, staring at the long-eared old man. "370," I said, pulling the number he had quoted for Misfortune's repair.

  "There is no way I’m selling this wand for that price," he firmly affirmed.

  While his reaction was potent, it wasn't one of someone having their goods' price lowered to a ridiculous level, which hinted that the price, if it wasn't already reasonable, wasn't too far from being so. Alternatively, it confirmed that the 370 ? he initially offered for Misfortune's repair was overinflated, most likely because he had his sights on the dagger from the very beginning.

  Having come to this understanding, I resolutely said, "370 ?."

  He replied with, "430 ?."

  I responded with, "370."

  "430."

  "370."

  Seeing this was going nowhere, he went silent for a moment. Then, out of nowhere, he said, "450 ?," staring me straight in the eye.

  I thought, internally fuming without voicing a word. Outwardly, I just stared at him. His defiant air quickly melted away in the long silence that followed.

  "Let's... let's say 450 ?, but in exchange—"

  "I'm not giving the D?rmalkrin's Blade," I established again, in case he’d forgotten.

  He bit his lip. "I know that already. I wasn’t going to ask for it. My offer is that for 450, you buy this wand and I might be able to do something for your wand—Misfortune."

  Frowning at the man, a thought passed through my mind. "Didn't you just say that you couldn't repair it?"

  "I can repair. I never said I couldn't. It's just that you can't wait. I can't possibly repair your wand right here and now, but that's not what I'm offering. What I can do is make it so that your wand no longer that destroyed."

  I internally seethed.

  I glanced at the broken wand hanging on my waist. His offer involved giving Misfortune a second life, but only on the surface. It would still be a broken wand, just one that wouldn’t look broken. Pragmatically, I saw no reason to do that, but another glance at the wand made me seriously consider the offer.

  Eventually, my mind was made up, but I wasn’t going to simply accept. I made a final bargain as I closed in on him, putting the wand’s shaft and shards back on the table. "425 ?, the wand, and my wand's quick repair included."

  He didn’t outright accept, but it didn’t take long for him to do so. "Alright." He pushed the wand in its box toward me and took Misfortune's shaft and shattered gemstone. "It won’t take long, just about a dozen minutes, unless..."

  "I can wait," I simply said, turning around as he went to retrieve what he needed to do what he planned. As he did, I ventured a question. Not having forgotten one of my goals for today, I believed it was smart to ask in a shop like this one, "Do you have any other artifacts? I'm looking for one that provides healing."

  Charlie stopped what he was doing and looked at me with a curious expression, his gaze shifting between the rings in my fingers, the golden bracelets on wrists, the earrings on my ears. At first, I was confused, but then I remembered how he had used both [Appraisal] and [Identification] on me earlier. Understanding his hesitation, I clarified, "If that's what you're thinking about, I have more money than what I have on me. So, do you have anything that matches what I'm looking for?"

  "I wasn’t thinking... tsk, fine. To answer your question, I do have something that matches what you’re looking for," he said with a hint of reluctance.

  Giving up on what he was initially searching for, he once again returned to the back of his shop. After a moment, he came back with a chest, roughly the size of a grown chihuahua.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  He opened it and presented its contents to me. Nestled within a bed of plush velvet lay a gourd. The gourd was a rich, warm amber color, polished to a high sheen that reflected the light like liquid gold. A sturdy rope was wound securely around its neck, for the gourd was bifurcated into two bulbous sections, the upper smaller than the lower.

  In the center of the upper section, a bold, striking symbol was etched. Though I couldn’t decipher its meaning, never having seen such writing before, I inferred it was something in Elven, as per the identification interface that told me this gourd was of Elven origin. So, chances are, it was a word in Elven.

  "It’s a rare piece," the elf said, a certain pride in his voice, almost as if he were presenting one of his masterpieces. But clearly, it was "his" masterpiece for the shopkeeper that he was, and not the artisan, for I knew he did not create this gourd. This was most likely something he acquired from one source or another. "You’ve glimpsed into its properties with your identification skill, haven’t you?. I promise you you won’t find anything like this around this part of the world."

  Alright, I admit, he might be right, both about how unique it looked and the fact that it fit exactly what I’d been looking for. But there were things I read on my interface that ruined my initial very good impression of this gourd.

  ---

  Identification: ???

  [Status]- Name: ???

  - Object: Healing Gourd

  - Stored S.P: N/A

  - Stored H.P: N/A

  - Material: Valaquendil Emerade Calebass, Valaquendil Divine Tree Essence

  - Origin: Raised under the shade of the Valaquendil Divine Tree

  - Age: 7361 years

  - Creator: ???

  - Owner: N/A

  - Condition: Pristine

  [Special Attributes]Imprinted Abilities

  - Unique Wielder: The healing dispensed by the gourd only works on its designated wielder. This bond is exclusive and cannot be transferred.

  [Infused Abilities]

  - Eternal Dew: The calebass continuously refills itself with an artificial extract of Valaquendil Divine Dew, providing an infinite water source.

  - Valaquendil's Embrace: The Valaquendil Dew can completely regenerate severe damage, depending on the cycle and the stored HP/SP.

  [Infused Skills]

  - Saving Grace: May or may not allow the wielder to infuse their own HP/SP into the gourd over different cycles.

  - 『Expand』

  ---

  It looked great on paper and in interface, really, but there was that latter part that mentioned "may or may not" which left me a little perplexed. After some more skimming through my identification interface, I found an explanation for both my gripe about the artifact and it roughly devalued the stats of the artifact from what it initially seemed to be worth. Quite a shame. But to be fair, I was being a little unfair here; I had yet to hear the actual price to judge it fairly. A glance at the old elf and the expression on his face made me feel like the balance wasn’t going to lean on the fair side.

  "How much for this one?" I asked, my voice steady as I met his gaze.

  ***

  As I walked through the bustling streets of Auroravia, I cast a glance at the wand hanging from my hips, secured in the holster. Misfortune, as I had named it, had been with me for so long, since the day I chose Sorcerer as a class instead of mage as the Wei? expected.

  After the old elf did his thing, the wand looked as pristine as it ever did, but that was just in appearance. It was still as broken as it was that day. But well, at least it's nice to look at. I think I have to now admit, especially after the old elf offered to buy my wand and that I’ve refused to separate myself from it, that I've grown fond of it. Even broken as it is, I couldn't see myself simply giving it away, naming a new wand Misfortune-01 didn't quite sit with me, even if it were for a much better one. That wasn’t very pragmatic, but I thought it was nonetheless alright to have these unpragmatic feelings from time to time.

  Beside Misfortune, sheathed in a wand holster sold to me by the old elf, was my new wand. It was similar in design but much larger, dwarfing Misfortune like a short man would dwarf a dwarf. Something also different about the wand was the brilliance of its gemstone. The new wand shone more vividly, unlike Misfortune, which had lost its initial radiance. I had yet to find a name for the wand, though right now, Misery seemed quite fitting. It stayed within the theme and didn't sound too different from its predecessor.

  With the name settled, I resumed my full attention to where I was heading. I was on my way to my hotel. After haggling for a while with the old elf to lower his price for the gourd, which was a whole new level of extravagance, I managed to bring the price down by 28% of its original value. I was out in the streets of Auroravia, having secured a better price, but it was still more than what I had on me. So, I needed to head over to the hotel to get the amount I needed.

  That being said, I didn't head straight to the hotel. Instead, I took a little detour to one of the most extravagant structures in the city, the Keysbrügr Faith's temple.

  It was one of the three existing temples in the city, but by far the largest. Despite being part of the same polytheistic belief system, the three faiths didn't share facilities. Usually, each faith has its own temples in every city, but it sometimes happens that one faith, being more predominant, has a much bigger temple, locally dwarfing the existence of the others. This was the case in Wexlow, where the most prominent faith was that of the Seraphim of Peace, the W?hppr faith, making their temple the largest in the city.

  Here, in the Ducal city of Auroravia, all three faiths had large temples easily dwarfing that of the W?hppr faith in Wexlow, but the most prominent one was that of the Keysbrügr Faith, which was leagues above the size of the temples of the other two faiths.

  The reason I was heading there was that it was the place where I was confident I could find the last thing I was initially looking for when leaving my hotel: an artifact providing healing. By that, I obviously didn't mean that they were selling artifacts. As far as I'm aware, they don't, but leaving my hotel, I was confident that with a large population of Highbreed, I'd be able to find, using my Identification skill, a Highbreed in the temple grounds who possessed an artifact with imprinted healing skills or attributes.

  Now, why was I looking for another artifact with healing properties when I'd already found one at the old elf's workshop? The answer was simple: the gourd he proposed had a pet peeve that would greatly hold me back for half of each 21-day cycle.

  The gourd, despite its impressive abilities, was bound by an inconvenient cycle. It started with the Cycle of Beginnings, a five-day phase where I could infuse my own HP and SP into it. During this time, the dew inside the gourd provided no healing at all. It was just a vessel waiting to be filled, demanding my energy without offering anything in return. I found this part rather frustrating; it felt like pouring water into a bucket with no bottom.

  Next came the Cycle of Youth, another five days where the gourd could store even more HP and SP. During this phase, the dew inside began to provide moderate healing, enough to heal bruises and minor cuts. It was better than nothing, but still not the powerful healing artifact I needed. It was like having a healer that could only fix scrapes while more serious wounds festered.

  Then there was the Cycle of Strength, the peak of the gourd's power. For five days, it could store up to 1000 HP and SP, and the dew could heal significant injuries. It was capable of bringing a dying person back to life, provided the damage didn't exceed what 1000 HP could fix. This was the phase that truly showcased the gourd's potential, but it was so brief. I felt a surge of frustration just thinking about it; having such immense power for only a short period was almost a tease.

  Finally, the Cycle of Decay and Renewal, the most problematic phase. Over six days, the dew gradually loses its healing properties. On the first day, it would lose half of its potency. By the end of the sixth day, it would be nothing more than a self-replenishing gourd with a coconut juice-like taste. This phase was the most troublesome, rendering the gourd nearly useless when I might need it the most.

  But credit where it’s due, the old elf's gourd was impressive, I’ll give it that but considering these cycles, the gourd will half of the time be of no help. I needed an artifact that could support me without such inconvenient limitations. I needed something more consistent, something that wouldn't let me down when I was in dire need. Hence, my search for another artifact here in the Keysbrügr Faith's temple.