12 Ancient artifact

[Lucy's POV: ]

[You have won: <F> ranked artifact- Red Wooden Sword.]

[You have won: <F> ranked artifact- Red Magic Cane.]

[Thank you for playing~! Have a good time~!]

And with that genuine thanks, the whole machine turned into golden particles and vanished into thin air.

"Yes~! Thanks to you too~!" I cheerfully shouted and looked at our greatest gain of all time.

A red sword that looked like a wooden sword but weighted more than a premium metal sword, and a red magic wand, wooden looking but more special than probably even some higher grade artifacts.

"Lucy~! Thanks for the wonderful gift~." Hugging me while holding her pretty staff, she kissed me... on the cheeks.

"Okey my lady, now at least show me what that black mouse generously gave out~," I asked as I hugged her back. I had to see the stats, but this feeling wasn't that bad.

'Hmmm... she was the best.'

"Yes~!" she shouted from my small shoulders and a window appeared in front of my eyes.

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[Red wooden Sword]

=Strength (+10), Agility (+15), Mana (+5)

→A wooden sword forged with an unknown tree's branch as its core. The gem on its guard shines beautifully under the moonlight.

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*

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[Red Magic Cane]

=Mana (+20), Stamina (+5), Strength (+5)

→A wooden magic cane crafted with an unknown tree's branch as its core. The gem on its top shines beautifully under the moonlight.

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[ "Wow~. The scam was indeed a success~." ] I exclaimed with excitement in her mind and she burst out in laughter.

We just got our hands on something that can grow beyond possible <S> rank.

These artifacts were from the [{( Ancient civilization )}] and these particular two pieces were special and can only be obtained with this method.

The ancient civilization was highly advanced in magic works and they had more resources than any of the kingdoms and empires combined.

Anything related to this ancient civilization was valued highly and the ones that held such artifacts were mostly the people with a significant role in this game and the entire worldline.

In the story, no one found the existence of these two things as they were specially created for players by the system.

Getting them through traditional means would be a very challenging and close to impossible task for others, but I luckily did it.

One will first have to clear a <S> ranked dungeon, be lucky enough to get their hands on a treasure chest by the system, find a treasure scroll in it, and later find the location of the treasure marked on it.

Clear the trails set by system AIs, and then... if you're lucky, you will get something good like these things in our hands.

Something like this was rare, and the core of every piece of the artifact was extremely important.

When an artifact with a strong outer body but a weak core gets overused, the artifact, the whole thing, crumbles down.

But, as long as the core is intact, one can increase the strength of an artifact.

In cases of these two things, the core was extremely precious ▼▼▼▼, which was an integral part of the worldline.

When I first got to know about these two artifacts, I was playing the game for almost the 36th time after dying by the roulette's true form that just gave us this.

He was a pitch-black hamster that had many things in his warehouse.

Many of his artifacts had summoning skills which he loved and, when angry, he didn't hesitate to punish the offenders.

It was by chance, but I did hear his long poem on his mother's Worldline and that gave me the idea of doing something like this.

I had already seen most of the <G> to <S> ranked artifacts with this method, but there were still many things I never got the chance to see in that absurd warehouse.

He was an [Offspring], a creation of the Worldline itself.

He handled the <Roulette of gold>, the true roulette that existed on the [Greater plains] of this world.

The one we just saw was something of a very small scale than what he actually was.

The main system brain ▼▼▼▼ created a total of 369 [Offsprings] throughout the countless worlds it had and those 369 beings stood on top of even the lowly gods themselves.

In-game, we also called them [GM], the game masters that administered the whole of the world or a particular system of the world.

El will report a bug in this roulette system to the black hamster and then he should reward her, aside from the worldline's system, for this achievement.

The artifacts in our hands would be a great help in killing the pig bastard and to evolve them, we will have to collect some things from the forest.

"So, all that's left is finishing your skills, making a contract with my kitty, and then... we can kill him~!" she cheerfully sang that as if that was the only thing that excited her.

"It will be great, but what after that? How will we handle the consequences of this?" I had a genuine worry about the aftermath of this situation. Death of that pig bastard would naturally lead to unforeseeable consequences.

I was worried, but she was as calm as ever. Looking at me with her... devilish smile, she replied, "We won't have to do anything~. We can just make aunty confess his crimes to central authorities and his business already has many eyes on them so a competition, as well as internal conflict, will start which will ultimately lead to everyone's fall~!"

She was confident and after hearing that, it seemed like the most plausible situation considering what I remembered about his personality from the game.

His 'business' in the (Red market) was something that attracted not only hungry wolves like him but also the nobles and other races interested in splendid specimens and delicacies.

It was a dirty business, and he was a scumbag that enjoyed torturing children.

This world was created so finely that it was really heartbreaking, even for someone like me. Even more because things like this one reminded me of some unpleasant things from my past.

He had a 'playroom' under this three-floor orphanage where he did many ugly things.

And…

That would be the very place for our punishment to him.

He locked special products on the third floor and took 'extra care' of them so that they can fetch special prices when sold to 'special' people or, in his case, turned into one of his evil kind.

The ones on the lower floors were the most miserable in this hell-like place.

Not only did they have to starve, but they also went through the same 'thing' as aunty, and... that bastard enjoyed it.

We both might have had a more disgusted reaction as we thought, but our zero skills prevented that.

It was a scary skill, and we both knew we won't even flinch after doing a full-out genocide.

This was scary, but it wasn't new for us to cut down flesh and boles, obliterate the enemy, and bring down opposing forces.

We had done enough things in the past that this looked minuscule in front of something like that.

The zero skill was important as there will be times we will need them and when that time comes, bloodshed will be inevitable.

But... those things will be for the future us to think about.

"El, let's go back. I'm still far away from my task. And no training for tomorrow!" My voice was stern, and she knew I was serious.

She had overdone herself with this one and there was nothing more surprising than her standing normally.

I could feel her exhaustion through our connection and that was something we both didn't like.

Putting her back on her bed, I gave her a goodnight kiss... on the forehead.

"Good luck, B.R.O.T.H.E.R.~" that voice was cheerful but the sorrow behind those heart-aching words was a sad sight. But we couldn't do anything about that for now.

I sighed at the misery that bound us from doing many things, but... many of them were just temporary.