[Effect: Can appraise items, monsters, and more.] [Description: A handy thing that can help you quickly figure out what's going on, anytime, anywhere. Of course, you could also try learning Appraisal Technique, a kind of magic, and then throw away this thing perched on your face.]
Hiss—
Lan Qingyou clicked on the glasses and couldn't help sucking in a sharp breath when she saw what they did.
Lan Qingyou: "Name your price."
She immediately messaged Shang Chuan. What she lacked right now was knowledge, after all.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have been trying to get books like Monster Studies.
Wouldn't this make so many things more convenient?
At the very least, she wouldn't have to put things on the Small Screen every time she wanted to appraise them.
Shang Chuan: "A thousand each of the red and blue potions, five hundred of each Attribute Potion, and a thousand Luminous Potions."
Lan Qingyou stared at Shang Chuan's reply in surprise.
It wasn't that the price was too high. It was too low—so low that it didn't seem like a price befitting the 'Appraisal Glasses.'
Honestly, even if he'd asked for half of everything she produced from now on, Lan Qingyou wouldn't have thought he was overcharging.
But the glasses were only E-Rank, so there was clearly more to it.
Lan Qingyou: "What's the catch?"
She asked bluntly.
Shang Chuan: "The glasses can only appraise things based on the wearer's overall knowledge."
Lan Qingyou: "Explain."
Shang Chuan: "You know the [Knowledge] section in Personal Information, right?"
Lan Qingyou: "I do."
Shang Chuan: "If your overall knowledge is E-Rank, then the glasses can only appraise things up to E-Rank. Understand?"
Lan Qingyou understood at once.
In the end, knowledge really did change everything.
Did that mean that only with knowledge could the glasses appraise what she saw, drawing on what she already knew?
Lan Qingyou: "In that case, your price is a little steep."
After thinking it over, Lan Qingyou said,
If the glasses relied on the wearer's own knowledge as a reference, then in a sense, she didn't really need them, did she?
Shang Chuan: "Not at all."
Shang Chuan: "Although the Appraisal Glasses determine the scope of their appraisals according to the wearer's knowledge level, they can also cover things you simply don't know."
Lan Qingyou: "What do you mean?"
Shang Chuan: "For instance, you're currently studying E-Rank Alchemy, but you haven't studied other E-Rank subjects, like Mechanics or Runology."
Shang Chuan: "The Appraisal Glasses can help you appraise unfamiliar subjects at the same level as your Alchemy knowledge. They can even perform preliminary appraisals of higher-level things, like D-Rank or B-Rank ones."
Shang Chuan: "Of course, those appraisals are very broad. They can only tell you roughly whether something is good or bad, not give you precise information."
That cleared things up for Lan Qingyou.
Rather than calling them 'Appraisal Glasses,' it would be more accurate to call them 'Assessment Glasses.'
Even if she'd only studied E-Rank herbalism, she could use them to assess E-Rank mechanical items, and she could just barely assess higher-grade items, too.
Lan Qingyou considered it, then decided to buy the glasses after all.
Everything in this world was unknown to her. Though the glasses weren't the sort of 'appraisal item' that people on Blue Star might expect, they could at least help her judge whether something was dangerous and give her enough time and opportunity to run.
Lan Qingyou: "A thousand each of the red and blue potions, including two hundred +50 ones, with the rest all +30. Two hundred of each Attribute Potion. You'll provide the test tubes and brewing base liquid. Also, the Luminous Potions need Luminous Mushrooms, which I don't have, so you'll need to provide those too."
Shang Chuan: "Sure, but add two hundred Universal Antidotes."
Fine, fine. A merchant through and through.
He'd only made Antidote Potions for Li Huai yesterday, and today he was already raising the price.
Lan Qingyou: "One hundred and ninety-nine. I have them ready."
Shang Chuan: "Deal."
So Lan Qingyou traded the 199 Apprentice Grade Universal Antidotes left over from the batch she'd made for Li Huai yesterday for the Appraisal Glasses.
He also sent over 3,800 empty test tubes.
"More debt!"
Lan Qingyou grabbed the Steel Wool and gave it several vigorous strokes, then sighed.
She didn't ask where he'd gotten the glasses. A merchant's supply channels were their greatest secret.
After stroking the squeaking Steel Wool for a while, Lan Qingyou thought it over and finally messaged Li Huai, telling him the Mana Potion he needed might take a few more days.
Li Huai said he was still recovering from his injuries, so a few days' delay wouldn't matter.
After finishing her conversation with Li Huai, Lan Qingyou picked up the glasses and examined them carefully.
There was nothing special about them. They looked like an ordinary pair of black-rimmed glasses.
She put them on and tried them out. It seemed as though the whole world had changed before her eyes.
Objects of all sizes popped up with windows displaying their ranks and brief descriptions.
Unlike the appraisal on the Magic Desk's Small Screen, these glasses didn't make any snarky comments.
They were all about getting straight to the point.
"Hmm!!!"
After finishing her meal, Lan Qingyou put on the glasses and went to the Alchemy Workshop to continue brewing potions. Two of the description windows that appeared there caught her attention.
[Meteorite Iron Cauldron (Unknown)] [Effect: Unknown.] [Description: A cauldron made of meteorite iron.] [Meteorite Iron Herb Pestle (Unknown)] [Effect: Unknown.] [Description: A herb pestle made of meteorite iron.]
Lan Qingyou was dumbfounded.
Wait! These two things were made of meteorite iron?
Without stopping to think, she lunged forward, grabbed the herb pestle, and rushed to the desk. She placed it on the Small Screen for appraisal.
The glasses couldn't appraise things above their own level, but the Small Screen could.
[Effect: Increases the potency of alchemical ingredients by 50%.] [Description: The ultimate tool every alchemist dreams of—a World-Class Magic Item recognized by the World Will. Whoever owns it is in for a treat; everyone who's used it says it's great. Unfortunately, after being left idle for so long, its effect has faded. Perhaps you could try using it regularly to awaken this slumbering World-Class Item.]
Gulp—
Lan Qingyou swallowed, her mouth watering.
Good grief, the herb pestle she'd used to grind Centipedes and Earthworms was actually a World-Class Item?
Then... what about the cauldron?
Lan Qingyou turned to look at the cauldron, which was bubbling and steaming away.
Calm down! Lan Qingyou, what you need right now is to stay calm!
She kept warning herself inwardly.
Wait...
If the Rusted Cauldron and the Rusted Herb Pestle were both like this, could there be other treasures in Albert's Basement?
At the thought, Lan Qingyou's eyes lit up. Her tongue unconsciously moistened her lips, which had gone dry with excitement.
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