1.
Dolores was a wise woman.
She never, ever showed all the cards in her hand.
The same went for verifying these gloves.
Simply confirming whether the enchantment had succeeded and what level it had reached could be done by purchasing a simple appraisal device inside the Tower.
Among the artifacts found in the Tower, there were items meant for simple verification like this.
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[Charon’s Magnifying Glass]
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Measures an equipment item’s enchantment level and grade.
Consumes mana per use. One charge allows 100 uses.
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If she visited the appraisal center again, she would be able to receive a precise appraisal.
But that would leave a record. She had already exposed too much information.
Dolores actually regretted her previous visit to the appraisal center as well.
Because she had not been cautious enough then, the information must have leaked out.
That was not what she had wanted.
She had simply been too flustered at the time. Setting all other factors aside, she had wanted to confirm whether he truly was one of the Heirs of Fire.
So she entered the Tower, bought the item, and returned to the estate.
Then—
At her office desk, she examined the gloves through Charon’s Magnifying Glass.
As she did, she wondered what she ought to do if he had successfully enchanted them. What praise and reward should she give him?
Then, as she looked at the gloves through the magnifying glass—
"……?"
She rubbed her eyes.
Probably around ten times.
Blink, blink.
She looked at the displayed figure again.
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[Work Gloves]
[☆☆☆☆☆]
[Enchantment Level: +20]
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+20?
Dolores’s hand froze.
Starless work gloves. Enhanced to +20.
Dolores’s expression went blank. When people received a shock beyond their comprehension, their thoughts stopped.
Slowly, she rose from her seat.
Silently, she walked around the office about fifteen times.
Once she had somewhat recovered her senses, she reached into the air and opened a subspace.
Hummm.
It was a storage space where she had kept the equipment she had worn in the past.
She reached in and took out a book.
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[Magic Grimoire]
[★★★☆☆]
[Enchantment Level: +18]
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It had been an auxiliary weapon she had cherished in her days of climbing the Tower.
Now that she had switched to unique equipment that could not be enhanced, it was no longer something she used.
She had used it well until then, and kept it to pass down to Ruby someday.
She could not even count how much in resources, money, and time had gone into it.
The very act of counting it would have been inefficient.
Yet that equipment was only +18.
Carefully, she took off the gloves Lionel had made for her.
Then she put the work gloves on her hands. Frost formed over their surface from Dolores’s cold aura, but—
"……."
She could feel it the moment she put them on.
Uncontrollable, pure power.
Something that could not possibly be contained in a starless piece of equipment was trapped inside.
Dolores did not like enchanting, but she knew its basic principles.
Low-grade equipment could not withstand high-level enchantments.
Why?
Because the equipment could not fully bear that power and would be liable to break.
Just as a cup would shatter if one tried to force an ocean’s worth of water into it, low-star equipment could not endure the pressure of high-level enchantments.
That was why even the Dwarf Company put restrictions in place.
The enchantment cap for starless equipment was +5.
The enchantment cap for one-star equipment was +10.
Beyond that, it was impossible to even attempt an enchantment in the first place.
It was not a matter of failing the enhancement and having the item break. The system rejected the attempt itself.
There was a reason even that Company, greedy for money as it was, refused it.
At minimum, an item needed two stars.
Which meant these gloves—
Were something that should not be able to exist in this world.
Knock, knock.
"Yes."
"Ah, Duchess. You’ve returned. It’s just that young master Lionel has woken up…"
"Yes."
She had reached her conclusion.
Dolores calmly drew a breath—
Bang!
Then she rushed toward Lionel at full speed.
2.
At present.
I was being carried somewhere in Dolores’s arms.
As usual, she seemed to have intended to take my hand and lead me somewhere.
But perhaps because she knew my hands were swollen, she simply gathered me into her arms instead.
So Dolores must have been the one who applied the medicine after all.
She held me tightly, wearing a very serious expression.
Thump.
And from where our bodies touched, I could hear her heartbeat.
It was a little fast. So were her strides.
Dolores brought me to a room I had never seen before.
When she opened the door, a space with a distinctly antique atmosphere came into view.
A soft-looking sofa.
A bed.
A chessboard.
Bookshelves.
Exercise equipment…? Though it was absurdly loaded with nothing but weights.
There were also countless other objects I could not identify.
It was a cluttered room, as if every possible taste had been crammed into one place.
"……."
What was this room?
At a glance, I could not tell what its owner even liked.
Still holding me, Dolores headed for the sofa.
As she sat down, she carefully placed me on her lap.
We were facing each other.
Our eyes were level, and Dolores’s blue eyes looked directly into mine.
She continued to slowly stroke my back.
"Can you tell me how you did it?"
She asked calmly.
After organizing my thoughts for a moment, I opened my mouth.
I could not tell her everything.
So I slowly explained what had happened last night. Only the objective parts.
When I tried enchanting for the first time, I did it without knowing anything.
From the second attempt onward, I saw a particular circle and struck it.
The better I did, the higher the success rate became. I could see that with my eyes.
The surprising thing was that the Dwarf Company’s enchantment room also provided probability information through its interface.
So explaining it was not difficult.
"The success rate changes depending on your skill…"
"Yes."
Dolores gave a small nod first.
The higher the level rose, the harder it became.
And if I made a mistake, the chance of destruction increased.
"My eyesight is good."
It was what I had always said until now.
Before, Dolores would have stared hard at me at least once.
But now, she did not even try to distinguish truth from lies.
She merely smiled faintly and nodded.
Then she reached out and gently kneaded both my cheeks.
"……?"
Was this praise?
[Yeah… I think it probably is…?]
It must be.
"Enchanting is skill…"
Dolores withdrew the hand that had been kneading my cheeks and slowly stroked my hair.
"The Dwarf Company always calls it luck."
"……."
"When you step into one of their stores, everyone sees the same screen."
Honestly, that was something I had been very curious about too.
Enchanting absolutely was not something that could be replaced by a machine.
Yet the community said all you had to do was let a machine hammer away in front of you, then pray.
If the mechanism for enchanting equipment was similar to what I had experienced—
Then the Dwarf Company was having machines wildly pound away at parts that needed delicate handling.
No wonder the odds were complete garbage.
"Lionel?"
"Yes."
Squeeze…
Dolores pressed my face into her embrace and whispered.
"Congratulations on becoming the Outer Tower’s first enchanter."
"……."
The first in the Outer Tower…
Those were words with considerable weight. I could not really feel it, but—
Hearing her say it like that made it feel real.
Dolores’s embrace was warm. She smelled nice.
Selfishly, I wanted to stay like this forever.
"And."
Dolores paused for a moment.
"From now on, only enchant in a safe place."
"……."
"The world may not leave you alone."
She said it with a gentle smile.
But I thought I roughly understood what she meant.
It was as though she had phrased it as gently as possible because I was a child. But I, a thirty-year-old man, understood.
"Yes."
Apparently satisfied with my answer, Dolores stroked my hair once more.
Then she carefully lifted me down from her lap.
She went to get something and soon returned.
In her hands was a prettily wrapped box.
It even had a ribbon tied around it.
"……?"
What was this?
Dolores set the box in front of me and untied the ribbon herself.
Inside the box was—
"……."
The +20 work gloves.
They genuinely looked shabby, but resting atop red velvet silk, they somehow seemed to possess an entirely different level of dignity.
"Why wrap them up like this…?"
Dolores smiled.
"I’m going to try auctioning them."
"…An auction?"
Dolores was the one who had just said the world might not leave me alone.
And she was going to auction these?
Perhaps reading my expression, Dolores gently added,
"Ah, whether you sell them or not is up to you, Lionel."
"I see."
Dolores curled up the corners of her lips and slowly continued.
"When you enter the Tower, there’s a place where people communicate. We call it the community. There’s also an auction house there."
"An auction house."
"I want you to see for yourself just how remarkable—and how absurd—what you’ve accomplished is."
"……."
"Our Lionel, that is."
Ah, this was a kind of lesson.
No matter how much Dolores praised me and told me I had done well, it might not truly sink in.
It seemed she wanted to show me firsthand how the world evaluated it.
I was curious too.
Just how would the world value +20 work gloves?
Dolores really was an excellent educator.
She scratched exactly where I itched.
"Aren’t you curious?"
"Yes…"
"Whenever there’s good news from now on, I’ll let you know. Unfortunately, you need to have entered the Inner Tower at least once to view its auction house."
I see.
…Yuna?
[You’re asking whether you can access the auction house?]
Can I?
[Sure~ Your big sister’s got you~]
Nice.
Then there was no need to wait.
When I gave a small nod, Dolores smiled slightly.
"All right. Then let’s look at it together once there’s a result."
After tidying the box up again, she stroked my hair once more.
"Your hands are swollen today, so get plenty of rest."
"Yes."
"Lionel…"
"Yes?"
When I looked up at her call, Dolores was staring directly into my eyes.
Wait. Don’t tell me?
Dolores looked as though the sky had fallen—no.
That was a slight exaggeration. But she did look deeply upset as she immediately grabbed me around the waist.
Then she firmly secured me back onto her thigh.
"Don’t lie…"
Fuck, I’d been caught.
I had lied without realizing it.
In truth, I had been planning to sneak out again that evening.
"No lying. You’re resting properly today. Understood?"
"Yes…"
Buzzz…
"Good."
Her words were gentle, but her eyes made it clear that she would demand I rest today no matter what.
Ha, this was driving me crazy.
I’d spent ten years unemployed, and just when I was trying to hustle a little, I was suddenly being forced into work-life balance I had never asked for.
[Hustle…?]
I’m a pro, okay?
It’s work.
Anyway, Dolores finally seemed a little reassured and released me from her hold.
"If you’re truly bored, Ruby’s library is on the third floor."
"I see."
"Yes. Ruby is probably organizing the books she bought yesterday and practicing. Go watch her, and read some books with her too."
It sounded like a real hassle, but I ought to go.
Ah, I had a good idea.
I’d go there and use the community while Ruby read.
Perfect.
"Yes, understood."
This was not a lie.
I was going to go, after all.
Dolores nodded with a satisfied expression.
Then she suddenly pressed her forehead against mine.
"Lionel?"
"Y-Yes?"
"If I find out that you went out to the workshop tonight…"
"……."
"Then from now until you become an adult, you’ll sleep with me every night. All right?"
Dolores smiled sweetly.
And said something quite terrifying.
3.
Dolores left for the Tower to put my gloves up at the auction house.
From what I heard, equipment had to first undergo authenticity verification before it could be listed at auction.
They had to make sure the listed enhancement level and granted magic were genuine, and that it was not forged or a scam.
Well, of course they had to prevent scams.
And one more thing.
This was something I had just found out: there were two ways to register auction items.
Put simply, online or offline.
There were supposedly offline shops every fifty floors of the Tower.
But most transactions were conducted online.
And there was one more distinction.
Anonymous listings, and real-name listings.
Most people seemed to choose anonymity.
As for real names… unless you were a business or a high ranker above a certain level, no one chose it.
They said there was a risk of being robbed while climbing the Tower.
But I was never climbing the Tower. Never, ever.
So it was not information I needed.
"It’ll be anonymous, right?"
Dolores was a high ranker, but putting up +20 work gloves under her own name would probably look a little pathetic.
They were an utterly irrational piece of equipment, after all.
People would naturally wonder, Who made these?
I knocked on the door to Ruby’s magical library.
Knock, knock.
No answer.
Then I’m just coming in~
When I opened the door and entered—
Ruby was buried in books, sleeping soundly.
"She’s sleeping again."
Well, apparently mages had such good mana efficiency that they could practice even while asleep.
It did not seem like something I needed to worry about.
I plopped down in a spot that looked suitable enough.
"Show me the auction house."
[Uh, first, there’s something I want to tell you before the auction house.]
"What is it?"
Why was she acting so ominous?
To my ears, it sounded like, Big bro, we need to talk.
[First, since you’ve never entered the Tower… technically, you shouldn’t have an account, right?]
"Right."
[But this account is one I made myself. So it’s a ghost account.]
"…Is that so?"
[So, just in case. Don’t go doing anything too reckless.]
"What are you talking about all of a sudden? What reckless thing would I do?"
[…….]
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[Rhythm Game Minor Gallery Profile]
[Posts (125,561) Comments (356,469)]
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Yuna brought up a suspicious-looking interface.
Seriously…
"……."
Suddenly, memories of the past came rushing back.
All right.
I won’t do it.
"I quit the gallery too. You trust me, right?"
I was confident about this.
I had definitely quit.
Leaving behind Yuna’s not-quite-a-warning, I opened the auction house.
A translucent screen appeared in the air within the library.
[Inner Tower] - [Auction House]
"……."
Countless pieces of equipment filled the screen in neat rows.
Starting with swords and armor… all the way to tools whose names I did not even know.
It looked like there would be more if I scrolled down.
Since every listed item had apparently been authenticated—
The number of stars and simple flavor text were displayed alongside them.
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[Shadow Dagger] [★☆☆☆☆]
[Enchantment Level: +4]
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『Darkness gathers at the blade’s edge.』
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[Current Bid: 4,200 Gold]
[Time Remaining: 1:19:46]
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All right, 4,200 Gold…
Okay. Forty-two million won.
The price range was pretty broad.
Some started at just a few dozen Gold, while others reached tens of thousands.
This alone was pretty entertaining.
What was even more interesting was—
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[Mirror of Miraju]
[Unique Equipment] [★★★★★]
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『If it was seen, that is a lie. And even if it was not seen, that too is a lie.』
- The End, Heir of Stars -
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[Current Bid: 10 Gold]
[Time Remaining: 3:01:14]
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It was equipment that looked incredibly good at first glance.
Why was it only 10 Gold?
Just as I was wondering that—
[💬]
An icon floating there like a speech bubble caught my eye.
When I pressed it—
[💬 Comments (47)]
A screen opened.
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[Anonymous1]: Why is nobody bidding on this? Looks good. I just bid 10 Gold.
ㄴ[Anonymous2]: Newbie? lol
ㄴ[Anonymous3]: This person only lists it and has never sold it. They just put it up to show off.
ㄴ[Anonymous4]: For real, they list it every day. Ignore every bid.
ㄴ[Anonymous1]: Ah… then why list it?
ㄴ[Anonymous2]: Because of people like you lololol
ㄴ[Anonymous1]: fuck
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Wow…
Apparently, you could comment on every item in the auction house.
You could haggle, share information, and—
You could also flex like this.
This was ridiculous.
Well then, it was about time…
Should I search for my equipment?
I returned to the main page and typed Work Gloves into the search bar.
The screen flickered once, then the result appeared.
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[Work Gloves] [☆☆☆☆☆]
[Enchantment Level: +20]
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[Current Bid: 3,000 Gold]
[Time Remaining: 6:23:55]
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Oh, 3,000 Gold?
Nice. Not bad. It was worth more than I had expected.
I could see why Dolores wanted to list it.
It looked like she had posted it five minutes ago.
"……I can’t not check the comments."
To see the reactions, I pressed the button.
[💬 Comments (211)]
"What?"
It had only been five minutes.
Yet there were already 211 comments.
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[Anonymous1]: ????? What is this?
[Anonymous2]: Isn’t this a fucking bug? This makes no sense.
[Anonymous3]: Wow lol who cracked the odds?
ㄴ[Anonymous2]: Don’t advertise that you don’t know shit. Odds or no odds, starless items can’t even be enhanced past +5.
[Gale]: ?
ㄴ[Anonymous5]: I’m a fan, Gale~ When are you restoring your completely fucking wrecked Mana-Infused Bracers to +20? You should be using ten-star equipment~
ㄴ[Gale]: imnotenhancinganymore
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The reactions were incredibly heated.
[Comments—hold on, it’s lagging way too much, big bro.]
[The comments keep increasing?]
[💬 Comments (217)]
[💬 Comments (224)]
[💬 Comments (231)]
The number was climbing in real time.
Click.
"……."
Click.
"……."
Click, clack.
Click, clack.
Click, clack.
I started refreshing the comment section.
[Big bro.]
[Big bro?]
That was how I began enjoying the reactions while reading the comments.
Th-this was the feeling…
Posting a screenshot of an all-perfect clear and reading the comments.
[Here he goes again…]
How long had I been looking?
As I listened to Yuna’s lament like background music, the comments eventually passed one thousand.
But then.
That was when it happened.
Ding.
Ding.
[Current Bid: 10,000 Gold]
[Current Bid: 13,000 Gold]
[Current Bid: 17,500 Gold]
The price began to rise.
"It was only 3,000 Gold a moment ago…?"
Someone kept raising the price.
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[Anonymous165]: Why is the price going up so much? They’re just work gloves.
ㄴ[Anonymous1770]: (Link)
ㄴ[Anonymous1770]: Look at this.
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Curious, I clicked the link.
A page opened.
The Enchantment Gallery of the Inner Tower community.
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[✪][Requesting Featured Post) Estimated Stats of +20 Work Gloves]
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(Graph image)
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Whoa, what was this?
The post itself was ridiculously long.
It was packed with formulas and graphs, enough that I had to scroll down for ages.
"I don’t wanna read this…"
[Sigh.]
Fortunately, at the very bottom of the post, there was a helpful three-line summary.
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1. There is no data for work gloves enhanced beyond +5, so the estimate was simulated.
2. The effectiveness of every enchantment enhancement increases at an accelerating rate as the level rises (similar to an exponential function).
3. Based on this, +20 Work Gloves ≒ +10.5 Mana-Infused Bracers for the same equipment slot.
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"……"
+10.5 Mana-Infused Bracers?
I did not know exactly what that meant, so the moment I returned to the auction house—
Then—
Ding.
[Current Bid: 60,500 Gold]
The value of the work gloves had become—
605 million won.
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