Chapter 47 - 44: Value Assessment Machine, and the Power of Containment

Chapter 47: Chapter 44: Value Assessment Machine, and the Power of Containment

Shi An returned to the Safe Zone.

Inside the shop, the decor and atmosphere were largely the same as before, but the area had doubled in size, and a few more small, round tables had been added.

"Aside from that..."

Shi An didn’t need to walk around. By simply concentrating, he could sense all the changes to the little shop. Every brick and tile, every flower and blade of grass in the Safe Zone was already reflected in his mind.

"The tool room has some new basic tools, like a broom, Gloves, a wrench, and so on."

"Also..."

Shi An walked over to the water dispenser.

At first glance, it was just a water dispenser, but in reality...

It could dispense not only water but also tea, coffee, milk tea, soda, orange juice, beer, and more.

"Whatever you think of, it’ll dispense it."

The Bread Black Box, a cabinet-like object next to it, was the same. You could take out snacks like bread, small cakes, and cookies from inside.

It was all a bit unscientific.

But it felt very dream-like.

’This is way more amazing than a Curse Object!’

’Or maybe, these are two special Curse Objects themselves.’

He had achieved milk tea freedom so casually.

Shi An had once thought about brewing tea in the shop. Now he had tea, but the tea that came out directly from the dispenser seemed to be missing a bit of soul.

"And also..."

"The storage room to the side has tripled in size. I can pile up a lot of junk in there now."

A door in the wall behind the counter opened up to the tool room on the left and the storage room on the right.

Shi An had always thought the storage room was too small before; he couldn’t even fit many souvenirs from the Nightmare World. It seemed the Safe Zone’s upgrade and renovation were perfectly to his liking.

Not only that...

Further down this not-so-spacious corridor was another small room.

The Manager’s Office.

It wasn’t large, only a little over a hundred square feet.

But it was fully furnished with a single bed, a desk, a toilet, and a wardrobe.

The idea of sleeping in the dream world could finally be realized.

’Wonderful!’

"And in the future, I can appear directly in the Manager’s Office when I enter the Safe Zone. That’ll save me from materializing out of thin air when there are Dream Descenders outside."

...

Shi An toured the entire Safe Zone, inside and out, and now had a clear understanding of the changes from the renovation.

In addition to the Manager’s Office, the Unlimited Water Dispenser, and the Bread Black Box, he discovered another Miracle in the shop.

—the Value Assessment Machine.

This was a device that could appraise the approximate value of an item.

The device was placed in an inconspicuous corner of the shop. It was about as tall as a person and, at first glance, looked a bit like a bathroom scale for weighing people. Except, what you placed on it wasn’t a person, but valuable items from the dream world.

Shi An tried tossing an Incomplete Curse Object onto it.

The assessment machine emitted a soft beeping sound.

After about two or three seconds,

BEEP~!

Text appeared on the screen above, one character at a time.

[Item Appraised: Curse Object · Vicious Fang (Incomplete Level)]

[Description: A relatively sharp object. Can be used directly by holding it in your hand. Wounding a living being with it will cause the injury to become difficult to heal.]

[Evaluation: A high-value Curse Object among those of the Incomplete Level. Appraised value: 1700g Dream Crystal Dust.]

’It identifies and appraises value?’

’As for the value, it seems to be about the same as the current market price—or maybe this appraisal is based on the market and will fluctuate with it.’

Previously, the Dream Descenders who came to the Safe Zone would also conduct some trades among themselves.

The number of trades wasn’t high, but it still allowed Shi An to learn a bit about market prices.

As for the identification...

’Identification is an Ability the Safe Zone already possessed. When I’m inside the Safe Zone, I’ve always been able to discern a Curse Object’s abilities and how to use it just by staring at it. Has that Ability now been extended to the Value Assessment Machine?’

After a moment of thought, Shi An realized the Value Assessment Machine was extremely valuable.

Of the Safe Zone’s three current devices, the Unlimited Water Dispenser and Bread Black Box were luxuries. Normally, Dream Descenders don’t spend a long time in a Nightmare, so water and food aren’t urgent necessities for them.

But,

"The initial cost for a Dream Descender to figure out an unfamiliar Curse Object can be quite high."

"And the Nightmare World is full of Materials and Treasure Medicines that are difficult for Dream Descenders to identify."

The Value Assessment Machine could identify all of these.

At least, it could identify the vast majority.

’The Value Assessment Machine can definitely be a paid service. Especially for a Curse Object’s usage method. For a Dream Descender, spending a little Dream Dust to get the answer directly is much more worth it than trying over and over. The latter also consumes Dream Crystal Dust, and you have to endure the Curse Object’s corrosion again and again.’

Identification was a high-demand service in the world of Dream Descenders.

And as for ’value appraisal’?

’Perhaps the Safe Zone can start a buy-back service in the future?’

Shi An felt that the number of things the Safe Zone could do was growing.

But even now, he still hadn’t been able to find the ’Curse Object Containment Area’ mentioned in the notification.

’Where is it hiding?’

"Where’s my big ol’ Curse Object Containment Area?"

Perhaps he had triggered a keyword.

Instantly,

Two empty square boxes materialized in front of Shi An.

He understood.

"This is the containment area? What does it do?"

Judging by the name, it was undoubtedly for containing Curse Objects.

However, piling the Curse Objects in a corner of the storage room didn’t have much of an effect on the surroundings. It wasn’t at the point where they absolutely needed to be contained.

Besides, this containment area only had a measly two slots.

Shi An thought for a moment, then placed his strongest Curse Object, the Invisible Corridor, inside one.

Instantly,

DING!

[Notification: You have contained the Curse Object ’Invisible Corridor (Rare)’.]

[Notification: You can now directly use the abilities of a contained Curse Object without being affected by its side effects. The degree of the Curse Object’s development still depends on you.]

He didn’t need the notification.

The moment he contained the Invisible Corridor, Shi An instinctively understood what he could do.

It was as if it were an instinct.

After some thought, Shi An decided not to test it inside the Safe Zone.

Instead, he returned to the real world.

He went into his cramped bathroom.

He raised his hand.

In an instant,

The cramped bathroom suddenly expanded. The walls transformed, taking on the appearance of the Nightmare Corridor from before, stretching eerily and endlessly into the depths.

This time, Shi An felt none of the strain or pressure of frantically activating the Curse Object.

He only sensed a close connection between himself and the containment slot. Wisps of Curse Power flowed from the slot into his body, cold but not unpleasant.

He had easily and quickly activated the Invisible Corridor, unleashing an effect ten times stronger than the last time.

And the cost was minuscule.

’I can actually do this?’

’As expected of me!’

Shi An had never been in a real fight, but with this move alone, he could definitely be considered an expert among Dream Descenders.

Besides, his upper limit was far beyond this.

As he continued to develop and master the Curse Object, he would be able to unleash even greater power.

’In other words, I don’t need to follow the path of borrowing, Fusion, control, and Refinement. Or rather, I can just keep practicing and using it, skipping the intermediate stages, until one day I can just directly achieve Refinement of the Curse Object.’

After all, the purpose of the earlier stages was to completely achieve the Refinement of a Curse Object.

Shi An pondered.

As the Safe Zone was upgraded to Level 2 and would soon welcome more Dream Descenders, an important question now lay before him.

And that was—

the management policy for the Safe Zone.