Published: August 25, 2025
Today, four chapters are posted simultaneously.
This story is the third chapter.
Looking at the exposed object that seemed to be a magic stone and noticing it was scratched, I realized the sensation I felt earlier was probably from poking this. To avoid causing further damage, I carefully dug it out. The stone was about the length of an index finger and two fingers wide. Judging by its color, its elemental magic was dark-elemental. Confirming with appraisal magic, I was correct.
However, it seemed there was not just one magic stone. During the process of digging this out, many similar stones appeared around it. Perhaps the soil around had crumbled easily due to the break rock magic woven into the shovel, making them easy to spot. Some stones were even bigger than the one I was holding.
…What I sensed was the mana of this large quantity of magic stones? For now, a report comes first.
“Everyone! I found magic stones! They are dark-elemental magic stones!”
I lightly tossed the dug-out magic stone to everyone peering into the hole. Mr. Sebas caught it and appeared to appraise it. I heard an impressed voice.
“Indeed, this is a first-grade dark-elemental magic stone.”
At those words, the other three also spoke up. First grade? My own appraisal hadn’t been able to tell that much. I thought the quality was good, but how good exactly? Curious, I asked further and learned that magic stones are classified into three types: first, second, and third class, and then each is subdivided into six quality grades.
First-class stones are light, lightning, and wood elemental magic.
Second-class stones are dark, poison, and ice elemental magic.
Third-class stones are fire, water, wind, earth, and non-elemental magic.
This classification is based on the rarity of the elemental magic. First class is the rarest and most valuable, followed by second and then third class, which are cheaper. Spatial magic stones haven’t been confirmed to exist, so they’re not included.
By the way, for magic stones of the same elemental magic, upgrading one quality grade roughly doubles the price. For example, third-class magic stones are priced as follows:
Grade 1: 32,000 soot or more
Grade 2: 16,000 soot or more
Grade 3: 8,000 soot or more
Grade 4: 4,000 soot or more
Grade 5: 2,000 soot or more
Grade 6: less than 2,000 soot
Grade 5 stones are the minimum quality needed to use as magic wands, while grade 6 stones are used for inexpensive magic tools affordable to commoners, functioning like batteries.
Grade 6 stones are sometimes sold along with fragments from processing higher-grade magic stones. Unflatteringly, they’re commonly called “junk magic stones.”
Basically, higher quality stones contain more mana and are used for more purposes, hence their higher prices.
Regarding second-class magic stones… They are rarer than third-class stones and fetch about three times the price. But not all second-class stones are necessarily more expensive than third-class ones.
Grade 1: 96,000 soot or more
Grade 2: 48,000 soot or more
Grade 3: 24,000 soot or more
Grade 4: 12,000 soot or more
Grade 5: 6,000 soot or more
Grade 6: less than 6,000 soot
So, a high-quality third-class magic stone can be worth more than a low-quality second-class one.
In this case,
“Um, this magic stone is dark-elemental, so second class, and of first-grade quality. Both the element and the quality are impeccable and valuable, right?”
“That’s correct. High-quality magic stones are hard to obtain, and when such fine stones go on sale, mages, craftsmen, and various others seek to buy them. It’s rare to see stones of this quality.”
“The prices I mentioned earlier are just minimum values. If sold through appropriate channels, the price can easily be two or three times higher.”
“I’ve also been wanting dark-elemental magic stones for a new staff, so if Ryoma-chan agrees, I’d buy it at around that price.”
At that minimum price!? Rounding up, that’s about 100,000 soot per stone! That’s a huge sum! And Miss Remily just decided instantly!?