Chapter 132: Dimensium
Lucius sat back in his chair, rubbing his temples as his eyes moved down the list of materials.
"I can understand Silver Alloy... Celestine Quartz... a B-rank Mana Core... Stabilizing Stone and the others," he muttered, reading the list again.
While it might’ve sounded like he was just spouting random fantasy metals, these were all pretty normal items in ’To Be the Extra’.
Hell, if he wanted to, he could walk down to the market and pick them up by evening.
But then came the real headache.
"But... Dimensium?"
His voice dropped like a curse.
That one word alone ruined his morning.
Where the hell was he supposed to find that?
Dimensium was a rare amplifier-type crystal... an item that didn’t even appear until much later in the main story.
There was only one piece on Earth right now, and it was owned by someone so rich, so unbelievably greedy, that Lucius would have to sell himself, his organs, and maybe his soul just to buy a shard.
And worse, it wasn’t just any shiny collector’s item.
It was tied to a main scenario quest.
Messing with it too early could trigger things even he wasn’t ready to face yet.
He rubbed his face and sighed. "Yeah, that’s not happening."
Just as he was about to cross it off the blueprint... he heard a familiar ding
[Ding!]
[Host is lucky... The System Shop is currently running a 50% discount on Unique Item: Dimensium]
Lucius froze.
"...You’ve got to be kidding me."
He stared at the notification floating before him.
It had been quite a while since he opened the system... still, the timing felt way too deliberate.
’Did you plan this, you conniving bastard?’ he thought, glaring at the floating screen.
But alas, who was he to argue with the mysterious omnipotent screen that gave him quests?
With a resigned groan, Lucius tapped the [Open System Shop] icon.
The blue screen expanded instantly into a massive holographic display, projecting rows of flickering offers.
And there it was... a huge glowing banner that looked like it had been made just to tempt him.
[Black Market Friday]
[Dimensium (50% Off!)]
"Oh, great. You even made a banner," he muttered sarcastically. "Do I get a loyalty card too?"
The system, of course, didn’t respond.
It just sparkled cheerfully, showing an image of a polished, silver-gray gem with small violet veins running through it.
It was beautiful and it looked perfect.
It looked like what a rich awakener would gift his girlfriend on her birthday... It was too enticing not to click.
[Item Name: Dimensium]
[Item Rank: S (Amplifier-Type Crystal)]
[Item Description:]
[A rare mana-responsive crystal used to enhance and stabilize space-aligned energy. When combined with Celestine Quartz or Mana, Dimensium amplifies spatial output by up to 350%, improving mana flow and reducing turbulence.]
[Would you like to buy 1x Dimensium for 5000 (10000) SP?]
Lucius felt his jaw drop.
"Five thousand? For one?!" He clenched his fists, glaring at the glowing numbers like they had personally insulted his bloodline. "Fucking scam!"
He opened his status window and checked his SP balance.
He had been saving those points carefully over the past month.
But what choice did he have?
He needed Dimensium for the ring.
Without it, the entire amplification process would fail, and all his other materials would be wasted.
He exhaled heavily, muttering, "I’ll just close my eyes and do it."
His finger hovered over the [Buy] button like a man about to detonate his savings account.
Then he sighed, cursed the System under his breath, and pressed [Buy].
Instantly, a confirmation message appeared.
[Purchase successful! Thank you for your transaction.]
[Item(s) Acquired: Dimensium x1]
But for some reason... he didn’t stop there.
It was one Dimensium per ring right?... He needed more.
Before he could talk himself out of it, his finger tapped [Buy] again.
Then again.
Then again.
When the glowing lights faded, his SP balance had plummeted to zero, and his inventory now proudly displayed six units of Dimensium.
[Thank you for your purchase 🙂]
Lucius’s left eye twitched.
"Why the hell are you smiling? You just robbed me blind!"
He tried to jab at the floating smiley face, but his hand passed through the hologram.
The System, as usual, ignored his suffering.
"Fine. Whatever."
He dismissed the screen with a swipe and summoned one of the Dimensium crystals into his hand.
A dark-silver gem materialized instantly, transparent like glass but glowing from within... it was as beautiful as the banner showed.
"Hm."
Lucius turned it in his palm, inspecting it under the room’s dim light.
It was smooth and cold to the touch, and somehow was heavier than it looked.
He poured a bit of space energy into it, just to test its reaction and his eyes widened slightly as the flow amplified, swirling back stronger than before.
It worked.
The effect of Dimensium was instant.
"Huh... it really is an amplifier," he murmured. "Space feels smoother... I could probably destroy a lot of things with this. Not bad."
Maybe this wouldn’t be such a waste after all.
Then he turned back to the blueprint spread across his table and froze.
His pupils shrunk as he reread the fine print on the lower corner of the page.
"I-I was meant to have only one... and only break off a piece per ring?"
His voice cracked as realization dawned.
The instructions clearly stated:
’Use a small Dimensium shard per ring core.’
Meaning he only needed a fragment... not the entire crystal.
He stared at the five pristine Dimensium sitting neatly in his inventory window and felt his soul leave his body.
"Fucking scam!!!"
He threw his hands in the air, pacing around the room like a madman.
He had just spent every single point of his hard-earned SP on materials he didn’t even need that much of.
"Hey, System! You con artist!" he shouted, reopening the menu. "You accept selling, right? I’ll return the extras... half price, quarter price, I don’t care! Just take them back!"
The System blinked back innocently.
[Sorry, but once items are bought from the System, they cannot be sold back. 🙂 Have a nice day!]
Lucius’s jaw fell open.
’Fucker!’
He wanted to scream... all that wonderful SP that could be put into skills... they were gone.
He buried his face in his hands and groaned loudly.
He could technically advertise and sell the extras to someone else... but that was an even worse idea.
Dimensium was an S-rank amplifier crystal, and its properties would attract attention from people far beyond what he could handle... if he was unlucky, he would bring the main villain who was currently looking for Dimensium across worlds.
"Fantastic," he muttered bitterly. "Just fantastic..."
He dropped into his chair again and for a moment, he just stared at the ceiling.
"It isn’t that bad... I’ll just get ready and head to the GUILD with Villy then we’ll try to make this."
With all this new knowledge about making it...
’It can’t be that hard.’