Episode 20: Gold Magic Ore
Returning from school, Yuma sprawled on his bed, fiddling with his phone.
He searched for precious metal shops online and called one of the numbers listed.
“Yes, this is Tanabe Precious Metals.”
A refined-sounding woman answered the phone.
“Ah, hello, I was wondering if you could appraise some gold for me.”
“Yes, yes, a gold appraisal. Are you looking to sell?”
“Yes, if it’s possible to sell it…”
Yuma was fully intending to sell the dropped “Gold Magic Ore.” If its Mana was zero, it would be no different from ordinary metal.
It wasn’t confirmed to be “gold” yet, but it weighed twenty grams, so if it was pure gold, it would be worth no less than one hundred forty thousand yen. This was surely a gift from God.
Yuma thought so and wanted to cash it in as soon as possible.
“I understand. Gold prices are currently rising, so I think it’s a good time to sell.”
“Really… So, what do I need to do to actually sell it?”
“We’ll need your identification and something that proves the gold’s origin… By the way, does the gold have any markings?”
“Markings? What are those?”
“They’re like marks that indicate the item’s value. We always check for them first when buying.”
“If it doesn’t have one, you won’t buy it?”
“No, we can still buy it if you have something else that shows its purchase history.”
“I, I see. By the way, is it okay for a minor to come in and sell something alone?”
“A minor… That’s not really possible. We’d need the consent of a guardian, and to confirm that, they’d have to come in with you…”
“I, I thought so.”
Yuma said, “I’ll talk to my parents,” and hung up the phone.
“Yeah, I figured.”
He slumped his shoulders in disappointment. If he told his parents he wanted to sell gold, they would probably grill him with, “Where did you get that?!”
More than that, there was no way gold dropped from Monsters would have “markings” or a “certificate.”
“Selling it is realistically impossible, huh?” he sighed.
Yuma shifted his gaze to the “Gold Magic Ore” on his desk.
“Should I try using it… I don’t know what kind of ability I’ll get.”
If its Mana Index was zero, like the “Black Magic Ore,” he should be able to use it.
Yuma took a wet wipe and carefully cleaned the Magic Ore. Even if it did have Mana, it would just come out as waste.
“Alright!” he steeled himself, put it in his mouth, and washed it down with water.
He swallowed and waited for a while.
“I, I hope this is okay?”
He knew he could use the Black Magic Ore, but he was drinking the Gold Magic Ore for the first time today.
It probably wouldn’t harm his body, but he was still worried. It wouldn’t turn his body gold, would it?
As he was thinking about that, his abdomen started to heat up.
“Here it comes! This feeling!!”
A jolt like electricity ran through his body. His consciousness floated away.
He had experienced the changes that occurred when absorbing Magic Ore many times now. There was no doubt he had taken it into his body this time as well.
When the strange sensation subsided, Yuma looked at his hands and body.
“There’s no particular change… Am I going to transform again?”
Yuma tensed his entire body and willed himself to change! Change!
Then his body turned black, and he Metallized as usual, but nothing else happened. That was the effect of the Black Magic Ore.
“That’s strange. I don’t know what kind of change happened.”
After that, he tried various things, but he still couldn’t figure anything out.
“What the heck… I should have thought about how to sell it instead.”
Yuma regretted it a little and went to sleep that day.
The next day—
He sluggishly headed to the garden, petted Mamezou’s head, and then defeated a Metal Slime.
Yuma was depressed because he was shocked that the “Gold Magic Ore” had no effect even after a night’s sleep.
He sighed and was about to leave the Hole when he noticed some Black Magic Ore.
“Ah! It dropped.”
“It’s been two months,” he thought as he picked up the Magic Ore and returned to his room.
The next day, after defeating a Metal Slime, another Magic Ore dropped. Yuma was quite surprised because it had never dropped two days in a row before.
The day after that, another Magic Ore dropped.
This was definitely strange… It was a clear abnormality. Yuma recalled the Gold Magic Ore he had swallowed.
“Could it be…”