Gemstone

The quest given to Amy and Kyla is to search for an artifact that was sighted on the lab radar by Sarah. According to the energy that is emitted, it's most likely a low-tier artifact.

They travelled towards the forest using a monster horse cart service.

Amy was intrigued after seeing this unique horse-like beast. She used appraisal on it.

[Lava Walker]

Rank: Uncommon

Description: A beast used by the Feys during their old age for travelling. Now it is being used commercially throughout the kingdom.

Endurance: Can travel up to 200 miles in a day without carrying a heavy load.

Speed: Faster than you think.

Skills: Rumbling

Amy thought her skill would only work on artifacts, but it also worked on a living beings. Although she was not that surprised, she was still happy to find new uses for her skill.

"The skill says... rumbling?"

A window popped up in front of her.

[Rumbling: Stomps the ground to create a vibration.]

It is used to communicate with its own species.

Using this skill together in a herd will cause an earthquake.

"Hmm, interesting," Amy said to herself.

The girls got dropped off by the roadside, and by foot, they went deeper into the woods.

Soon they arrived at an opening with a lake in the middle. Amy was thirsty enough to kneel down and try to take a sip of the lake water, which looked clean and clear.

"Stop, Amy. I don't think you should get close to the water."

"Something doesn't feel right," Kyla warned her.

She had good intuition as an adventurer.

Amy looked at the surface of the water to see a disturbance in her reflection.

Speak of the devil, something jumped out from beneath her reflection and would've hit her face if not for Kyla's quick thinking and reflex to grab hold of Amy's shirt and pull her back.

It was slime! And more slime! One by one, they came out of what seemed like a lake to the two researchers from the intelligence department.

After the last slime jumped out, the lake was reduced to half its original size.

What seemed like clear water was actually a group of slimes that stacked on top of one another to trap prey by deceiving them.

Kyla was right.

The slimes opened their mouths in a hostile manner and showed off their unusually long and sharp teeth.

Kyla looked at Amy. She could tell by the girl's face that she was frightened.

The veteran said to her junior, "Relax Amy, they are just slimes."

After hearing that, Amy was reminded of her past. It was a sunny day, and she was shopping with her friends. She saw a slime monster plushy in a store, and it looked so cute she couldn't resist the urge to buy it.

Now, what she sees in front of her at the moment is completely different. It was as if they were a pack of vicious beasts hungry for flesh.

Kyla took out her sword. She came prepared. She stood in front of Amy, who was lying on the ground, the result of Kyla's strong hands shoving her away from the lake.

Amy tried to use her only skill on the slimes. And it worked.

[HYDRO SLIME]

Rank: Common

HP: 80 DEF: 10 ATK: 15

a type of monster that can digest whatever they eat using a strong acid. They don't usually have any distinct shape and appear as large masses of gelatinous fluid.

Slime varies between mediums, with some being intelligent and capable of assuming basic shapes and others being nothing more than brainless piles of goo that dissolve whatever matter becomes enveloped by their bodies.

Skills: water mimicry, jump attack.

"Skills"

Water mimicry: acts like still water to lure in prey.

Smash

Bite

"That's a skill?" Amy was unimpressed.

Kyla swung her sword with accuracy and precision, moving forward.

Even a barbaric swing would have been enough to kill those pesky slimes.

'Elegance' was the word that described her. It was only a matter of seconds until she defeated all the slimes. She pulled Amy up and told her not to be deceived by looks alone, as slimes are one of the weakest monsters to be found.

Amy agreed in her heart; she knew she had to strengthen her mind and body as she might need to go on more dangerous adventures in the future.

It wasn't the same old earth anymore where people used to go to picnics and have fun with friends by travelling to different places. Here, it was all about survival.

The slimy bodies started moving. They aggregated and formed one big ball of water. From the middle of the ball, a light shone brightly. The girls had to cover their eyes until they diminished.

They saw a transparent gemstone floating inside the water, which was immediately absorbed and fell to the ground.

Picking it up, "Appraisal," Amy said decisively, not wasting an ounce of energy on useless words that could have been spoken.

[Solar Gemstone]

LOCKED

Type: Blessing Rank: Tier V

a gemstone that can store the energy of the sun.

(After unlocking)

Skills: Grant the fireball spell to the holder.

Brilliance: The stone will shine brighter than a lamp without producing any heat.

Ignite: Fire will be produced in small amounts.

They picked up the artifact and went back to the lab.

There was no need to waste time, as the quest itself informed them of an artifact being formed in the area. What they did not expect was that slime would be carrying it.

Amy explained the stone to Sarah and Kyla.

"What an amazing skill you have. We usually go through multiple processes for identifying an artifact's type, rank, and skills using different instruments and trials. But just one word from your mouth is enough to know everything about the artifact."

"We do have an instrument that can show the details of an artifact, but it takes an unnecessary amount of mana, so I prefer to use it only on high-tier artifacts." Sarah proclaimed.

Amy put on a fake smile. "I guess they will exploit my skill even more from now on. But it also works out for me since I will gain more knowledge about appraisal the more I use it."

Sarah then told the newcomer to try and unlock the artifact all by herself.

"Remember, Amy, the technique to unlocking an artifact lies in the nature of its heart."

"Make use of the description of the gemstone you saw using your skill. It should be easy since it's only Tier V. Come, Kyla, I need you to help me with one of my works."

"Nature of its heart, technique..." Amy pondered. The description said it charges energy from the sun, so I just have to give it solar energy. She went outside and placed the gemstone in her palm, making sure that sunlight came into contact with it.

"Appraisal"

[SOLAR GEMSTONE]

LOCKED

"Eh… It didn't work.

Think, Amy, think! The gemstone is supposed to store energy, but it isn't working.

Why? Is it because of the huge amount of water that is absorbed? Is the water blocking the sunlight's entry into the stone? If that is so, then how do I take out the water? by drying it in the sun?

Don't be ridiculous.

Drying that huge amount of water in the sun will take thousands of years, considering how small the surface area of the stone is.

Amy kept trying out multiple ways to unlock the artifacts until finally-

"That's it!!! I found it."

Amy picked up the gemstone and kept it in her pocket. After we reached the lab, her pocket was wet. She thought it was just her sweat, but what if it was the water that leaked out of the stone?

The curious girl took out a roll of cotton and placed the artifact on it. In an instant, the roll of cotton became soaking wet.

The experiment was a success. "Good. Now I just need to find something that will suck all the water from it."

In the lab, she started searching for an item, whether it be an artifact or an instrument, that could contain the volume of water the stone absorbed, but to no avail.

She thought of a plan: "Go to the bathroom; use cotton; soak it using the gemstone; wring it; repeat."

With a disappointed face, she started her work. On the third time she soaked the cotton, a window popped up:

Command

Release Lock

Amy got the gist of what it meant.

She said, "Release," but she forgot to take any precautions.

Water came flooding out of the gemstone without an end. She was pushed by the surge of water and fell to the floor.

Luckily for her, the bathroom was too big for the water to fill up. It was made to accommodate multiple people at once. As the door was airtight, the water did not spill out of the bathroom.

As the level of water lowered slowly, Amy picked up the gemstone lying on the floor and used her skill.

[SOLAR GEMSTONE]

UNLOCKED

Special-Grade Material Found

[STATUS CHANGE]

Surprised, Amy was out of words. The status of the solar gemstone changed in front of her.

Space Stone

Type: Blessing Rank: Tier IV

Description:

A gemstone that can contain anything that does not have a solid physical form.

Can contain only one type of material at a time.

Has a large but limited space inside.

Skills: User's Choice: Can perform limited actions through the user's will.

Needs to contain material first.

Amy was elated.

"Things just became exciting!"