[Royal Alchemist: I say! Mr. Repairman! I know you’re reading my messages! Please, just reply!]
[Royal Alchemist: I was wrong! I never should have brought up clinical trials! My mouth was the problem! So please, sell me just one more of those flasks! Hm?!]
[Royal Alchemist: What do you want? Points? Mana stones? Or another artifact? Just say the word! I’ll meet your price!]
The smartphone in my pocket, connected to the community, was vibrating like mad.
Filling the entire screen were none other than the Royal Alchemist old geezer’s desperate courting messages.
The man who, until just moments ago, had treated me like a guinea pig and spouted nonsense like, “Good thing you didn’t die,” now seemed to be sweating bullets.
I snorted and turned the message notifications completely silent.
“Hmph. Maybe later, but I’m not selling to you this time.”
The fact that the old man was clinging this hard was, paradoxically, proof that this shabby little glass flask I had was an irreplaceable treasure over in his world.
Hadn’t I already confirmed that at the first auction last time?
Five B-grade mana stones and a Dragon Heart activator.
Converted to Earth’s value, it was worth hundreds of millions of won—no, it was an opportunity that couldn’t even be measured in money.
And I was supposed to just sell it off to the same person again?
I was a businessman in my own right. My pride wouldn’t allow it.
On top of that, he’d earned himself a penalty for being obnoxious, so I had no intention of selling it to this old man again this time.
“Let’s make the game a little bigger this time.”
I leaned deep into the chair at my workbench and opened the sales menu of the Dimensional Market.
I could proceed with a live chat auction like last time, but this time, I decided to use a method that would secure points more reliably.
[Auction Method Selected: Blind Bidding]
An auction where no one could see who had bid how much—a true blind auction.
There would be no testing the waters by watching the competition and nibbling the price up one point at a time.
The more desperately someone wanted this item, the more they would have no choice but to bet the maximum amount they could afford from the very beginning in order to decisively shake off their competitors.
I pulled a dusty flask from a box in the corner of the workshop, took a photo, and uploaded it.
[Item for Sale: Heat/Acid-Resistant Transparent Flask]
[Auction Method: Blind Bidding]
[Starting Price: 1,000,000 Points]
[Auction Duration: 24 Hours]
[Would you like to register?]
When I pressed the confirm button, a system message appeared.
[The auction has begun. It will be automatically awarded to the highest bidder after 24 hours.]
“Good. This should be fun.”
Just imagining how nerve-racking the mind games would be among the big spenders of the fantasy world, including that old geezer, already made a smile creep onto my lips.
But I couldn’t just sit around waiting.
‘Hmm… I do need to enter a Gate….’
I needed to put this overwhelming physical ability I’d gained from swallowing the Dragon Heart to use.
My gaze naturally turned toward an old object shoved into one corner of the workbench.
It was something Mr. Kim had brought in ages ago while drunk, crying and begging me to please fix it.
I pulled away the dust-covered cloth.
What was revealed beneath it was a shabby longsword with a hideously twisted hilt and its blade snapped cleanly in the middle.
[Item Name: Broken Mercenary’s Sword
Grade: E
Condition: Blade damaged due to strong impact, mana induction circuit severed.
Repairable: Yes (Upgrade repair possible)
Required Materials: Basic Repair - 2 E-grade mana stones, 5g low-grade mana gold, 20p magic power
Upgrade Repair - 2 D-grade mana stones, 10g low-grade mana gold, 40p magic power]
“What the hell is this?”
Upgrade repair?
Wait, something like this existed? Now I was insanely curious.
I hurriedly opened the [Point Shop] tab in the Dimensional Market.
[Mana Gold - 500 P per 10g]
[D-grade Mana Stone - 10,000 P]
The materials were readily available.
The problem was that I didn’t have a single point on hand right now.
What I’d received from the last transaction had only been physical mana stones and a potion.
Did I have to sit around twiddling my thumbs for 24 hours until the flask auction ended?
‘Not a chance.’
I pressed the [Instant System Purchase] button tucked away in small print at the bottom of the market menu.
It wasn’t a trade between users, but a function through which the community bought miscellaneous junk.
According to the description, it purchased items from various dimensions in order to create goods for the Point Shop.
And their value was based on rarity.
“Based on rarity, huh….”
I got up and went out to the junkyard attached to the workshop. I rummaged through the mountain of scrap metal.
“Let’s see. What would be good?”
I returned carrying a broken bicycle so rusted that even its wheels wouldn’t turn, a malfunctioning microwave with its power cord cut off, and an armful of tangled wires of unknown origin.
By Earth’s standards, they were 100% pure trash that wouldn’t even fetch money at a junk dealer.
But wouldn’t they be rare over there?
I placed them on the workbench and tried a system scan.
Vrrrr—
[Appraisal Result: Non-mana conductors and composite metals.]
[Purchase Price: Total 150,000 Points]
[Would you like to sell?]
“……???”
I sold actual trash, and it was worth 150,000 points?
Earth’s garbage became resources in another dimension. This was practically alchemy, creating something from nothing.
“Sell! Sell it right now!”
There was no reason to hesitate.
I immediately pressed the sell button. Then the lumps of scrap metal on the workbench were enveloped in blue light before disassembling into the air and disappearing.
At the same time, my point balance leapt from 0 to 150,000.
“Jackpot!! Jaaackpot!!”
Worthless trash had turned into gold in an instant.
150,000 points! Fifteen D-grade mana stones!!
Fifteen million won!!
Without delay, I rushed to the Point Shop and swept up the materials I needed.
[Purchase complete: 20g Low-grade Mana Conductor (Mana Gold). (1,000 P deducted)]
[Purchase complete: 4 E-grade Mana Stones. (12,000 P deducted)]
I bought extra.
I needed to prepare for possible mistakes, and more than anything, I wanted to experiment with the newly appeared upgrade repair.
Blue particles gathered in midair, and a small bottle filled with fine metal powder emitting a faint mana, along with four fist-sized E-grade mana stones, dropped one after another onto the workbench.
“Wow… what the hell is happening, seriously….”
I put on my work goggles and gloves.
My heart was pounding. In the three years I’d lived as an F-rank repairman, I had done hundreds, thousands of repairs, but there had never been a moment as nerve-racking and exciting as this.
Because this was my first true repair as a proper awakened repairman, using proper materials and proper mana.
I aligned and fixed the broken cross-sections of the longsword.
Then I measured exactly 10g of mana gold powder on an electronic scale and sprinkled it lightly to fill the gap.
Finally, I gently placed two D-grade mana stones atop the blade.
‘If I’m going to do it, I might as well upgrade it for him.’
He could be a little annoying, but Mr. Kim had been a regular at my junk shop for the past few years.
At least once a month, he came by with repair requests, and he also brought in unnecessary items from Gates or fairly intact home appliances.
The bicycle and microwave I’d just uploaded were actually things Mr. Kim had brought me.
All preparations were complete.
[Repair materials have been met. Would you like to execute an upgrade repair?]
“Yeah!”
The moment I activated the skill, a vast amount of mana burst out from the Dragon Heart near my chest like it was being pumped.
“Huh?”
A heavy, hot energy, on an entirely different level from the trickle of mana I’d had before, flowed down both arms and concentrated at my fingertips.
Ssssss—!
When the blue flames of magic power pouring from my hands touched the mana gold powder, the metal powder instantly melted into liquid form and emitted an intense light.
The melted mana gold seeped between the broken cross-sections of the sword as if it were a living creature.
I raised my concentration to the limit.
‘Whoa, shit! This wasn’t automatic!’
It was my first time repairing a product imbued with mana.
Ordinary product repairs had been automatic, but this wasn’t.
Like a surgical operation to reconnect severed nerves, I had to find and connect each of the intricate, microscopic mana induction circuits tangled inside the sword.
[If you do not follow the proposed repair procedure, the repair will fail.]
Those words made me even more tense.
‘No way I can let that happen! Do you know how much these materials cost?!’
Beads of sweat formed on my forehead.
The Dragon Heart’s mana was powerful, but precisely because of that, it was difficult to handle.
I finely adjusted the output of mana and used the liquid mana gold like a brush, redrawing the severed circuit diagram.
Wooooong—
Woooong—
The sword began to resonate.
The energy extracted from the D-grade mana stones embedded in the hilt flowed through the newly connected mana circuits, causing a blue pulse to ripple across the entire blade.
The twisted hilt regained its original form, and the broken blade fused perfectly into one piece.
At last, when I finished smoothly connecting even the tiny cracks remaining on the sword’s surface with mana—
Flash—!
A blinding, intense flash engulfed the workshop.
Ding—!
Ding—!
[Upgrade repair complete!
Congratulations! The item’s potential has been unlocked due to accurate mana circuit restoration and the use of high-purity materials.
The weapon’s grade has increased: E → D]
“……Huh.”
After the flash faded, an entirely different object lay on the workbench.
The rusted, chipped E-grade junk item was nowhere to be found; in its place, a sharp D-grade masterpiece emitting a faint blue light had been born.
I hadn’t simply fixed it.
I had upgraded it.
“This… is real?”
I couldn’t believe it.
Unless they made something new from scratch, Earth’s blacksmiths, no matter how skilled they were, could only restore an item to the performance of its original grade.
But I had raised the grade itself.
“Mr. Kim. You hit the jackpot today.”
I picked up my smartphone with a satisfied smile.
I called the saved contact named “Problem Customer Kim.”
The call was answered before the ringback tone could even sound twice.
[Hey, Daeseong! What’s up? Wanna grab a drink?]
No doubt he’d been whining about his life and talking about booze in the middle of the day again.
“Mister. Stop drinking and run to the shop right now.”
[Huh? Why all of a sudden? I’m in the middle of an important conversation right now…]
It seemed he was getting scolded by his wife.
“I fixed your sword. If you’re not here in ten minutes, I’ll break it again and sell it as scrap metal.”
[……What? Hey! What did you just say? You fixed my sword?!]
“Yes, I fixed it. So stop talking and hurry over. I’m hanging up.”
[Honey! He fixed my sword! I’m going to Daeseong’s—]
[No! What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that!! You’re just using that excuse to go drink with Daeseong again, aren’t you!]
From beyond the receiver, I heard the voice of his wife, fierce as a tiger.
‘I’m definitely getting married late….’
***
A little while later.
Before I could even finish smoking one cigarette after hanging up, loud footsteps came from outside the junk shop, and the door flew open as if it might break.
Bang—!
“Huff, huff! Hey, Gwon Daeseong! Are you serious? Did you really fix it?!”
Mr. Kim rushed in, panting, his face drenched in sweat.
His eyes were bloodshot with disbelief and a faint hope that maybe, just maybe, it was true.
Without saying a word, I jerked my chin toward the workbench.
“See for yourself.”
His gaze locked onto the longsword lying on the workbench. The smooth blade gleamed with a blue sheen.
The partner he had longed for so dearly had been revived in perfect form.
“Th-this… is really my sword…?”