Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 77
Chapter 77: The Fruits of Mining
After finishing their mining session, Sora and her friends returned to the surface and headed straight for the tool shop.
By selling the “Steel Ore,” “Iron Ore,” and “High-Quality Iron Ore” they had obtained, they managed to accumulate a total of 700,000 El, breaking their previous record.
Sora accepted the large bag full of coins placed on the counter. Despite having spent 1.1 million El at the skill shop earlier, her total funds had now increased to 3.3 million El, almost fully recovering in just five hours.
Shin and Rou, on the other hand, had made a significant profit.
While her two friends were discussing visiting a different skill shop next time, Sora turned back to the shopkeeper, a young dragon girl. Normally, this would have been the end of their transaction, but this time, they weren’t just there to sell ore.
“Excuse me, could I also make an exchange?”
“Yes, of course. What would you like to exchange?”
Sora placed a large bag, taken from his item box, onto the counter and submitted an exchange request for an item from the shop’s menu. The item was called “Magic Iron.”
“Wha—huh?”
No way.
The cute dragon girl’s eyes widened, and her tail shot up in surprise as she alternated between looking at the screen and Sora’s face, hardly believing what she was seeing.
When she realized it was not a mistake or illusion, her hands trembled as she touched the screen to approve the transaction. The bag on the counter disappeared, and at the same time, the 50 “Magic Iron Ores” displayed in Sora’s menu vanished.
The girl then took out a treasure chest from beneath the counter, carefully unlocked it with a key, and presented it to Sora.
“H-here it is… the ‘Magic Iron’ you requested…”
Inside the opened chest was a shimmering, rainbow-colored metal plate. It was about 20 centimeters wide and 5 centimeters tall, a long, rectangular shape. As Sora carefully lifted it with both hands, she noted that it was surprisingly heavy for its size.
“Oh, so this is…”
?Lucifel?, the support character, informed Sora, ?Master, this is undoubtedly genuine ‘Magic Iron.’ It’s the highest quality metal I’ve ever seen. This single piece alone would easily fetch at least 5 million El?
Five million El!?
Rare items that can grant abilities really are that valuable.
With a smile, Sora turned to her two friends behind her and bowed her head in gratitude.
“Thanks, you two. I’ll definitely help you out the next time we do a ‘Magic Iron’ challenge.”
“Sure thing, but I just got a new weapon, so I won’t be upgrading for a while,” Shin replied.
“I also just upgraded my gear, so I’m good for now. But if I ever really need it, I’ll ask for your help,” added Rou, smiling.
The ores needed to exchange for the “Magic Iron” were actually collected by the three of them together. Their combined efforts barely reached the required 50 pieces: Sora collected 20, Shin 16, and Rou 14.
It would’ve been impossible for one person to gather all 50 pieces in just 20 minutes.
Since both Shin and Rou had recently upgraded their equipment and had fewer ores than Sora, they decided to give her all of their “Magic Iron Ores.”
At first, Sora tried to refuse, but when they used the “Gift” function—a feature that could only be used once every six months—to transfer the ores, she couldn’t say no.
There was no way Sora could disrespect their gesture by returning the ores now. Grateful for their generosity, Sora was able to successfully obtain the “Magic Iron.”
With their business at the tool shop concluded, the three of them left the store, and Sora suggested, “Let’s head to Kirie’s shop.”
They made their way to the large plaza in the central district of Hephaestus Kingdom. Even at this late hour, the area was bustling with high-level players.
Sora pulled her hood down low to conceal her face as they headed toward the large gate-shaped “Teleport Gate” in the center.
The “Teleport Gate,” added after the Leviathan battle, allows players to warp to any location they’ve previously visited without restrictions.
“Hey, isn’t that Sora?” someone called out.
“Today’s my lucky day, getting to see the strongest ?Enchanter?!”
“Sora-chan, hey! Let’s team up next time!” shouted another player.
Members of top clans, who knew Sora well, waved at her with smiles. Noticing this, all the other adventurers in the area turned their gazes toward Sora and her friends.
Uh oh, this is going to be a hassle.
Sora’s sense of impending trouble was spot on, as the ripple of attention quickly spread through the crowd of players.
“Is Sora the strongest player in AsuOn?”
“Huh? Seriously?”
“That little kid?”
Adventurers waiting to meet up.
Adventurers discussing their next plans.
Adventurers chatting after finishing their quests.
All of their attention was now focused on me.
Sora and her friends hurried to the “Teleport Gate,” opened the selection screen, and chose the capital city Yggdrasil with the quickest operation possible.
Just before the situation could escalate, their figures disappeared from the “Hephaestus Kingdom,” enveloped in a soft light.
—– —– —– —– —– —– —– —– —–
The scene shifts to Yggdrasil, the starting point for all adventurers. Sora and her friends, having teleported from the “Hephaestus Kingdom,” rushed into a small wooden shop in the castle town without stopping.
“Phew, we made it here safely,” Sora said, letting out a sigh of relief.
“We should be fine now,” added Rou.
“Yeah, we should be,” Sora agreed, nodding at Shin and Rou’s words as she looked around.
The inside of the shop was the same as before, with weapons and armor crafted by the shop owner neatly displayed on the walls.
The only noticeable change was the addition of three sections for beginners, intermediates, and advanced players.
The beginner section featured reasonably priced items, ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 El.
It’s not cheap, but if you work hard, you can afford it. That’s the impression it gives.
As Sora scanned the shop, she was relieved to find that there were no other customers besides themselves.
Usually, there would be one to five adventurers purchasing weapons or armor, or getting maintenance done, but today, there was no one.
Could it be that the owner cleared the place in advance, knowing they would come at this time?
As she thought that, a woman with red hair emerged from the back of the shop.
She was a level 40 blacksmith, dressed in a kimono with a Japanese sword at her waist—one of the top craftsmen in Astral Online.
Even though she wasn’t seen on the front lines, how did she manage to level up?
The top players who specialize in crafting, even the alchemist girl often seen gathering materials, were only level 39.
In production professions, you gain experience points to some extent by creating items. If she leveled up that much just by crafting weapons, how many weapons and armor pieces must she be making in a day?
When their eyes met, she smiled.
“Good evening. I see the other two often, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen you, Sora.”
“Yes, I spent three days in the forest, and then I’ve been doing mining quests and leveling up.”
“Yeah, you’ve got a good look about you. Now, let’s see your partner.”
“Okay.”
Nodding, Sora unfastened the ?Silver Sword? from her waist, closed her eyes, and pressed her forehead against the hilt.
…Partner, thank you for this past week.
She said her farewell to the sword that had carried her through tough battles. Without this sword, she wouldn’t have survived the fight with the Leviathan General or the battle to help Kuro’s father.
After taking a moment to engrave the memories with the sword in her mind, Sora opened her eyes and handed it to Kirie.
She carefully took the sword with both hands, drew it from its sheath, and examined it.
After a few minutes, Kirie, who had “read” the sword’s condition, took a deep breath and slowly exhaled before turning to Sora with a serious expression.
“You took on a dangerous greatsword user this time, didn’t you?”
“Oh, you can tell, huh?”
“Of course. Over 70% of the sword’s experience comes from that fight.”
“Haha… yeah, that makes sense.”
Sora’s reply came out flat.
She had suspected this ever since other NPC blacksmiths told her that the sword could no longer gain experience points.
Kuro’s father, Hart, had been trapped in this world since the beta test.
To save Kuro’s father from the cursed armor that had attached to him, Sora challenged the “Level 156 enemy” head-on.
That battle had maxed out the experience of the ?Silver Sword?.
Unable to explain the full story, Sora could only offer a troubled smile.
Unaware of the details, Kirie gave her a sidelong glance before sliding the sword back into its sheath.
“Well, let’s not dig into it. Instead, let’s get to the main topic.”
With that, Kirie walked over to the door and changed the sign from ?Open? to ?Preparing?. Now, no outsiders would be able to enter the shop.
Turning back to her, Kirie made a proposal.
“Sora, how about this time, you watch me as I craft your sword?”