After tidying everything up, Cao Ye prepared to head to the Dungeon.
He still hadn't completed today's Daily Quest.
This was basically the foundation of his survival. A person should never forget their roots—and these daily quests were practically his lifeline.
[Daily Quest: Create 3 magic items!]
[Progress: 0/3]
[Reward: Diamonds ×20]
Seeing the new quest, Cao Ye froze.
Creating three magic items—this type of task had never appeared before.
And the reward was no longer 10 diamonds, but 20 diamonds.
What was going on?
Had he upgraded to Level 2, causing the system to upgrade as well and unlock higher-level quests?
Unfortunately, no one could answer that question.
This system had no user manual, no customer service—everything had to be figured out by himself.
"Well, if that's the task… then let's continue."
Cao Ye looked toward the worktable.
Haruhime had already tidied everything earlier. Materials and miscellaneous items were neatly separated, trash had been thrown away, and the table had been wiped clean.
Walking over, Cao Ye picked up a ruby and began channeling magic power into it.
Through Gem Magecraft, he had mastered a technique for storing magic power inside gemstones.
The resulting gems were somewhat similar to the magic stones used in Orario, though still different.
Cao Ye had once considered using real magic stones for crafting.
But he gave up on the idea.
They were far too expensive— even the lowest-quality ones cost over a million valis.
He decided that once he fully mastered making spatial rings, he would try experimenting with magic stones.
For now, he infused magic power into the gemstone, transforming it into a magic-powered gem.
Then, using the Item Creation skill along with the Mystery development ability, Cao Ye attempted to use the gem as a foundation to open a tiny imaginary space.
Since he had succeeded once before, this attempt felt slightly easier.
Bang—!
However, due to a slight loss of control, the magic power went berserk.
The gemstone shattered instantly.
The magic he had just spent was wasted as well.
"Failed again… let's try another one."
He grabbed another gemstone and continued.
Bang—
"Again…"
Bang—
"I refuse to believe I can't do it! Again!"
Bang—
"Just a little more… again…"
…
Time passed bit by bit.
The gemstones in Cao Ye's possession gradually dwindled.
Meanwhile, the pile of shattered fragments kept growing.
Flash—
"Success!"
After who knew how long, he finally succeeded again.
It was a beautifully crafted sapphire.
Although it hadn't yet been set into a ring, that was just later finishing work—the crucial part was already complete.
The process involved three steps:
Opening the imaginary spaceStabilizing the imaginary spaceFixing the imaginary space in place
It sounded simple.
But when actually attempting it, Cao Ye realized how incredibly difficult it was.
Still, through this process, his control over Imaginary Magecraft had improved significantly.
Compared to the previous attempt, this one showed slight progress.
The internal space reached 15 cm × 15 cm × 15 cm.
A noticeable improvement.
After all, progress had to be taken step by step.
With Cao Ye's current strength, attempting a larger space would simply cause it to collapse.
…
…
[Daily Quest: Create 3 magic items!]
[Progress: 3/3]
[Reward: Diamonds ×20]
Twenty diamonds were obtained.
But Cao Ye was practically exhausted.
This kind of work required extreme precision—it was both time-consuming and mentally draining.
The three spatial rings he created had these capacities:
Two rings: 15 cm × 15 cm × 15 cmOne ring: 20 cm × 20 cm × 20 cm
The last one was his current masterpiece.
"I wonder how much these three rings can sell for."
Cao Ye weighed them in his hand.
Right now, his savings had basically been completely drained.
And he still owed Freya 20 million valis.
Not to mention that creating more spatial rings required even more gemstones.
All of that cost money.
He casually tossed the three rings into his pocket and prepared to go out.
Selling equipment was something he knew nothing about.
But there were professionals for that.
Connections existed to be used.
On the other side…
"Hehe~"
Haruhime stared at the ring on her finger, smiling foolishly.
Freya, who was reading nearby, noticed this scene with curiosity.
Haruhime had been giggling like this the entire morning.
"Haruhime~"
"Ah? Lady Freya?"
Hearing Freya call her, Haruhime snapped out of her thoughts.
"What are you smiling about?"
"Was I smiling?"
"You've been smiling all morning. You didn't notice?"
"I… didn't realize."
"Come on. What's making you so happy?"
"N-nothing~"
Subconsciously, Haruhime hid her left hand behind her back, trying to conceal the evidence.
Unfortunately, she didn't know how to lie at all.
Her behavior practically screamed guilt.
"What's in your hand?"
"Nothing."
"Really?"
"Really."
Freya smiled faintly.
"Already learning to deceive your goddess, Haruhime? Don't you know that children of the lower world cannot lie in front of a god?"
That single sentence cornered Haruhime completely.
Even without divine perception, anyone could tell she was lying.
But Freya's words sealed off all possible excuses.
Finally, Haruhime slowly revealed her left hand.
Freya immediately saw the gemstone ring.
An orange gem set in a silver-white band.
It wasn't overly luxurious, but a brilliant streak of light occasionally shimmered across its surface.
This was clearly not an ordinary ring.
It was a magic item.
"Haruhime, where did you get this ring?"
"Lord Cao Ye gave it to me."
"Cao Ye?"
"Yes~"
Freya smiled slightly.
"It seems that little one has finally produced something interesting."
Freya knew Cao Ye had been busy recently.
She just didn't know exactly what he was working on.
But now it seemed this ring was the final result.
That made her curious.
What special ability did this gemstone ring possess?
Because the Mystery development ability was extremely rare, magical items circulating in Orario were scarce and expensive.
One of the most famous examples was a member of the Hermes Familia, known as the "All-Rounder."
He was one of the few adventurers who possessed the Mystery ability.
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