Chapter 43

Chapter 43: Qi Return Necklace

The store’s second floor was much smaller as compared to the first, but it stored Fine Grade equipment, and the rest were at least of High Grade. On top of that, Ou Yangming also came across over ten pieces of Attribute Equipment. Of course, they were only of Good Grade, but even then, their value was way above a White Slate Equipment of High Grade.
Ou Yangming appraised more than a hundred pieces of equipment on the second floor, and he really found about ten that did not match Shopkeeper Lin’s description.
Needless to say, the differences were not big, by which the gaps were only one or at most two ranks, so none of them had a difference of three ranks apart. Even so, Shopkeeper Lin had a ghastly expression on his face.
‘A tenth, it turns out that the real attributes of a tenth of the equipment in the store are wrong.’
‘Luckily, this isn’t spread to the public yet, or the store will be doomed,’ he thought to himself.
On the contrary, Zheng Ziwen was not affected upon seeing the situation as if he was already used to it.
Once all the pieces of equipment were appraised, Shopkeeper Lin thanked Ou Yangming sincerely. “Master Ou, thank you for your effort.”
Ou Yangming chuckled. “Shopkeeper Lin, I’ve fulfilled my promise, so…”
“Master Ou, take anything you like, it’s a reward for you from the store,” Shopkeeper Lin quickly mentioned.
“Thank you.” Ou Yangming was elated, but he added, “If I don’t want a piece of equipment, can I pick something from the gems or jewelry?”
After looking around the second floor earlier, he noticed that the store sold pills and jewelry other than equipment.
He could not differentiate the pills, but the jewelry attracted his attention.
Shopkeeper Lin laughed. “I told you, you can pick anything from the second floor.”
With that, Ou Yangming began looking at the jewelry. Plenty of gem jewelry was displayed, such as earrings, headwear, necklaces, thumb rings, rings, bracelets, anklets, and so on.
Ou Yangming pointed at a necklace after glancing around. “Show me this.”
The necklace was smithed delicately, and he liked it very much.
Shopkeeper Lin giggled. “Master Ou, you have good eyesight. If you give this to your girlfriend, she’ll definitely be pleased.”
A fifteen or sixteen-year-old person was at the age of having increasing hormone levels, thus it was not strange for him to find friends of the opposite sex at all.
Ou Yangming blushed as he knew that he picked a women’s necklace. He wanted to pick something else but felt guilty since the others were watching, so he gritted his teeth and decided on the necklace. “I made my decision, I’ll take this!”
When Shopkeeper Lin and Zheng Ziwen sent him off at the door, Shopkeeper Lin told him softly, “Master Ou, about today, it’s best…”
“Don’t worry, I’m not a talkative person,” Ou Yangming quickly replied as he was considerate.
Shopkeeper Lin smiled brightly. ‘This young fella’s a sensible person.’
On the other hand, Zheng Ziwen approached him to ask, “Master Ou, if you still have time today, can you make another visit?”
Ou Yangming was surprised. “What’s the matter?”
“We’re going to escort a batch of products to the prefecture lately, but there are some pieces of equipment that I can’t appraise accurately, so I’d like to ask for your help.” Zheng Ziwen grinned, then said to him seriously, “Don’t worry, we’ll reward you generously.”
Ou Yangming paused for a while before he replied, “Okay, I’ll definitely come if I’m free.”
Once he left, Shopkeeper Lin and Zheng Ziwen returned to the private room on the second floor. The shopkeeper then gathered the pieces of equipment picked out by Ou Yangming, and asked, “Master Zheng, is it true that these were appraised wrongly?”
“I think so,” Zheng Ziwen answered without hesitation.
“Master Zheng, this…” Shopkeeper Lin was delighted.
“Did you notice that even though there are errors in the appraisal, the differences were only two ranks apart, and most of them only had a one-rank gap?” Zheng Ziwen sighed.
Shopkeeper Lin was stunned, so he muttered, “If I may ask, why is that so?”
Zheng Ziwen exhaled. “You saw the price I had to pay to use the appraisal art, right?”
The shopkeeper began wondering with a serious face.
“Honestly, the pieces of equipment were not assessed using appraisal art. They were evaluated by three extremely experienced old masters separately, and conclusions are made once the masters have the same opinion,” Zheng Ziwen explained, then shook his head before continuing, “The three old masters might’ve made some mistakes, but they’re able to keep the differences within two ranks due to their rich experience. Hence, we won’t use our appraisal art unless the debate is huge or if the piece of equipment is extremely valuable.”
Shopkeeper Lin pondered for some time, then finally sighed.
There were more than a thousand pieces of equipment being transported in the world, but there were only very few appraisers. Nobody in the world could use the appraisal art on every piece of equipment, let alone the appraiser of a store.
Therefore, three appraisers were able to determine an equipment’s quality by looking at it, and even if there was a slight difference, it would not be noticed.
Perhaps this was already the regulation followed by everyone in the equipment industry.
At the very least, that was what Shopkeeper Lin understood as he rarely encountered disputes about this matter throughout his years at the store.
After thinking for a short while, he cast that question aside, and asked something else instead, “Master Zheng, why was Master Ou able to evaluate by just looking at it once?”
Zheng Ziwen smiled bitterly. “Some people are born with the ability. It’s considered a natural gift, and it can’t be learned by others.”
Shopkeeper Lin was envious and jealous, but he knew that he would never become someone like that.
Subsequently, Zheng Ziwen asked, “When is Head Shopkeeper Fang coming back?”
Shopkeeper Lin quickly curbed his thoughts. “Head Shopkeeper went to check some goods, so he’ll only return tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Zheng Ziwen responded, “Once he’s back, tell him what happened today. I’d like to invite Master Ou to inspect this batch of goods, and I need his permission.”
“Yes.” Shopkeeper Lin agreed and kept it in mind.
It was an important matter for the store, so it must not be neglected.
※※※※
Ou Yangming returned to the military camp after he left the shop as he was not interested in walking around anymore.
He ran back instead of finding the cart driver because he was so thrilled that he could not wait to return to the camp.
Yan Chengcai and his brother would have a night battle with the others tomorrow night, thus he needed to make preparations in advance. Nevertheless, what made him really excited was the necklace.
Finally, Ou Yangming hurried back to his courtyard the moment he was back at the military camp.
It was extremely quiet since he rarely had visitors, hence he was able to do whatever he wanted quietly.
Ou Yangming removed the necklace to put it on his palm. Although he never really paid attention to accessories, it was human nature to be attracted to beautiful things.
The necklace was very pretty, and the gem embedded in the center was even more appealing.
Though he did not know its price, he knew that it was certainly valuable, and Shopkeeper Lin only gave it to him without hesitation to shut his mouth.
Nonetheless, Ou Yangming was never going to mention what happened at the store to anyone else as he was not a talkative person.
When he placed his other hand on top of the necklace, he began thinking.
‘The mysterious Military Fire can smith armaments, but can it be used on accessories too?
‘If I’m not careful, this necklace is probably going to be ruined.’
Ou Yangming put his concern aside very quickly. He needed to focus on increasing his power at the moment because only by having powerful abilities could he face murderous schemes.
In order to achieve that, he was willing to destroy ten or a hundred accessories, let alone just one.
He began the process as soon as he made the decision.
As such, his Military Fire danced on his palm, and the purple light in his mind flickered at the same time, which split his consciousness into two.
Consequently, he became like an outsider who watched from above his body.
When the Military Fire burned around the necklace, it made the necklace look strange and mysterious, which caused it to be more attractive.
However, it was just bright and clear from the outsider’s point of view. Ou Yangming was as calm as an iceberg and was not distracted at all.
Eventually when the fire enveloped the necklace completely, the words that Ou Yangming had been expecting appeared in his mind.
[Upgradable composition found, upgrade?]
Ou Yangming made a firm choice. ‘Upgrade.’
As a result, the various purple lights that were hidden in his mind emerged slowly.
Since he was not upgrading an armament, he controlled the process carefully, and only picked an attribute out of the many.
Following that, the purple light entered the necklace at a speed a few times slower than usual.
Perhaps he was already very adept in controlling the Military Fire, he did not have any trouble although it was his first time attaching an attribute into a piece of jewelry.
The process was slightly slower than usual, but Ou Yangming was satisfied.
As compared to its original state, the necklace on his palm did not change very much, but for some reason, there was a peculiar, unexplainable luster on it. The luster seemed to be able to penetrate one’s heart and was able to draw one’s attention even more.
Despite that, what really exhilarated Ou Yangming was the fact that the necklace became a piece of equipment through the Military Fire.
[Item: Necklace (Red)]
[Equivalent Rank: Ordinary Tool, Fine Grade, Rank One]
[Attribute: Qi Return +1]