"Appraisal Glasses (E)"
"Effect: Can appraise items, monsters, and more."
"Description: Anytime, anywhere — a wonderful tool that helps you quickly assess any situation. Of course, you could also learn the Appraisal Magic Skill instead, and toss these face-mounted things in the bin."
"Sss—"
After reading the glasses' description, Lan Qingyou couldn't help but suck in a breath.
Lan Qingyou: "Name your price."
She fired off a message to Shang Chuan immediately. What she lacked most right now was knowledge.
Why else would she have been buying books like "Monster Studies"?
With these glasses, wouldn't so many things become easier?
At the very least, she wouldn't have to haul everything to the Small Screen for appraisal.
Shang Chuan: "1,000 mana potions. 1,000 healing potions. 500 each of the attribute potions. 1,000 luminous potions."
Seeing Shang Chuan's answer, Lan Qingyou blinked.
Not because it was expensive — because it was cheap. Suspiciously cheap for something with the Appraisal Glasses' capabilities.
Honestly, even if he'd said "half your production capacity from now on," she still wouldn't have considered it overpriced.
But then again, the glasses were only E-rank. There had to be a catch.
Lan Qingyou: "What's the catch?"
She cut straight to the point.
Shang Chuan: "The glasses only appraise based on the wearer's combined knowledge level."
Lan Qingyou: "Elaborate."
Shang Chuan: "You're aware of the 'Knowledge' section in your personal info, right?"
Lan Qingyou: "Yes."
Shang Chuan: "If your combined knowledge is E-rank, the glasses can only appraise within E-rank scope. Make sense?"
Crystal clear.
At the end of the day, knowledge changed everything.
So the glasses could only appraise things by cross-referencing the wearer's own knowledge base?
Lan Qingyou: "In that case, your asking price is a bit steep."
She thought it over before responding.
If the wearer's own knowledge was the backbone, then in a sense, the glasses were almost redundant.
Shang Chuan: "Not at all."
Shang Chuan: "While the glasses do base their appraisal range on the wearer's knowledge level, they're limited only by knowledge."
Lan Qingyou: "Meaning?"
Shang Chuan: "For example: your current expertise is E-rank Alchemy. But you haven't studied E-rank Mechanics, E-rank Rune Studies, and so on."
Shang Chuan: "The Appraisal Glasses can fill that gap — appraising unknown fields at the same level as your existing knowledge. They can even perform preliminary appraisals on higher-level items — D-rank, B-rank, you name it."
Shang Chuan: "Of course, those higher-level appraisals are very rough. They'll tell you whether something is good or bad in broad strokes, but nothing precise."
Now Lan Qingyou understood completely.
Rather than "appraisal" glasses, "discernment" glasses would be more accurate.
Even with only E-rank Herbology, she could appraise E-rank Mechanics items. And for anything above her level, she could at least get a basic read.
After weighing it, Lan Qingyou decided to take the glasses.
Everything in this world was unknown to her. These glasses might not live up to the Blue Star stereotype of an "appraisal artifact," but at minimum, they'd let her gauge whether something was dangerous — and give her enough time and opportunity to run.
Lan Qingyou: "1,000 each of mana and healing potions — 200 of those at +50, the rest at +30. 200 each of the attribute potions. You supply the test tubes and brewing water. Also, the luminous potions need Gloomy Light Mushrooms, which I'm out of — that's on you too."
Shang Chuan: "Deal, but add 200 universal antidote potions."
'Well, well, well — leave it to the merchant.'
'I just made antidotes for Li Huai yesterday, and he's already pricing them in.'
Lan Qingyou: "199. That's what I have on hand."
Shang Chuan: "No problem."
And so Lan Qingyou traded 199 of the apprentice-level universal antidotes — the leftovers from Li Huai's batch — for the Appraisal Glasses.
Sent alongside: 3,800 empty test tubes.
"Another debt to pay off!"
She grabbed Steel Wool and gave it several aggressive pets, sighing as she spoke.
She didn't ask where the glasses had come from. Sourcing channels were a merchant's greatest secret.
After petting the cheeping Steel Wool for a while, Lan Qingyou thought it over and messaged Li Huai, letting him know his mana potions would be delayed by a few days.
Li Huai said he was still healing and a delay was fine.
Conversation over, Lan Qingyou finally picked up the glasses for a proper look.
Nothing special — just an ordinary pair of black-framed glasses.
She put them on and took in the world — and everything looked different.
Objects big and small had little information windows hovering beside them, displaying not just their grade but brief descriptions.
Concise and to the point.
"Hmm!!!"
When Lan Qingyou finished lunch and walked into the Alchemy Workshop wearing the glasses to resume brewing, two particular information windows caught her eye.
"Meteorite Iron Crucible (Unknown)"
"Effect: Unknown."
"Description: A crucible forged from meteorite iron."
"Meteorite Iron Medicine Mortar (Unknown)"
"Effect: Unknown."
"Description: A medicine mortar forged from meteorite iron."
Lan Qingyou's jaw dropped.
'Hold on — these two were made from meteorite iron?!'
Without a second thought, she dove forward, snatched up the mortar, and flew to the desk. She slammed it onto the Small Screen for appraisal.
The glasses couldn't appraise items above her level — but the Small Screen could.
"Deep-Sea Meteorite Iron Medicine Mortar (C)"
"Effect: Increases alchemy material potency by 50%."
"Description: The ultimate tool that every alchemist dreams of. A world-class magical artifact recognized by the World's Will. Whoever owns it, prospers. Everyone who's used it says it's the best. Unfortunately, prolonged disuse has diminished its power from its former glory. Perhaps you could try using it regularly to reawaken this slumbering world-class artifact."
Gulp—
Lan Qingyou swallowed. Not from nerves — from want.
'Are you telling me the mortar I've been using to grind centipedes and earthworms is a world-class artifact?'
'Then... what about the crucible?'
Lan Qingyou's head swiveled toward the crucible, which was still bubbling away with hot vapor.
'Calm down! Lan Qingyou, what you need right now is calm!'
'Don't let these treasures make you lose your mind!'
She kept warning herself internally.
'Wait...'
'If the "Rusted Crucible" and the "Rusted Medicine Mortar" were both like this, could there be other hidden treasures in Albert's basement?'
At that thought, Lan Qingyou's eyes lit up. Her tongue unconsciously darted across lips gone dry from excitement.