Endless Extraction in a Game-Like World-Chapter 21: The Infinite Money Glitch: Amassing 2,715 Origin Credits! Upgrading Trash into Treasures

Chapter 21: The Infinite Money Glitch: Amassing 2,715 Origin Credits! Upgrading Trash into Treasures

Smithery was a prominent line of work in the Domain.

If you worked hard and had a bit of luck, you could make a highly lucrative living as a blacksmith.

The process involved refining raw metal using mana and then utilizing the Origin Network’s Blacksmith Codex to trigger Domain runes within the forged item, officially registering it as a system-recognized weapon.

A blacksmith started at the 1-Star rank and progressed upwards. In theory, a 1-Star blacksmith could craft 1-Star weapons, which were designed specifically for the Iron Rank. A 2-Star blacksmith could forge Bronze Rank weapons, and so on.

To progress, one needed to aggressively grind Blacksmith Experience. As this proficiency accumulated, the smith’s craftsmanship naturally evolved. Eventually, a highly experienced 1-Star blacksmith would become capable of forging Rare or even Epic grade 1-Star weapons, armor, and utility items.

It was an incredibly profitable profession. Skilled blacksmiths were highly sought after, both inside the Domain and out in the real world.

Perhaps, if he ever found the time, he would look into becoming a blacksmith himself. It definitely was not a bad backup plan.

But then again, seeing all the Common 1-Star weapons listed on sale for a mere 25 Origin Credits, a brilliant idea sparked in Caelus’s mind.

Without a single shred of hesitation, Caelus bought four Common 1-Star weapons and five Common 1-Star armor sets directly from the global trading hub. This purchased armor was forged from basic metal and actually provided a minor stat increment, unlike the flimsy starter leather tunic the Domain handed out for free.

With a casual wave of Caelus’s hand, the heavy pile of cheap equipment immediately crashed onto the floor of his dormitory.

Seeing this, Albert was completely stunned.

"What are you doing, Brother Caelus?" Albert asked with a deeply confused look.

It felt like Caelus had not been in his right mind for the past few days. Just like right now, he was acting completely strange.

Why would he even buy this many useless, low-tier weapons and armor sets? From the looks of it, these were all bulk purchases from the trading hub, meaning his Brother Caelus must have wasted a lot of hard-earned money. The trading hub always had an inflated display price. Of course, desperate rookies bought from it, but if you decided to wait a bit, the exact same items would eventually pop up at a much lower, fairer price.

"Brother, how much did you spend on all these?" Albert asked, heavily shaking his head.

"225 Origin Credits," Caelus replied casually as he continued observing the pile of cheap armory.

"..." Albert’s expression immediately darkened.

225? Was Brother Caelus really so rich that he could just casually take out that much money to splurge on literal garbage?

Just as he was about to lecture his friend on financial responsibility, his phone suddenly rang. Looking down at the screen, he realized it was an urgent notification from the Fortis-01 High Special Class group chat managed directly by the school faculty.

"Brother Caelus, I will be right back. The school is abruptly gathering all Special Class students for a mandatory meeting." Saying that, Albert directly bolted out of the room with extreme urgency.

"Perfect timing." Caelus laughed, seeing his roommate leave.

With a wide grin forming on his face, he picked up one of the Common 1-Star spears from the floor.

[System: Extraction Successful...]

[System: You have successfully extracted the impurities from the Common 1-Star Newbie Spear. You have obtained a Rare 1-Star Newbie Spear.]

"Hahahaha..." Caelus’s expression twisted into pure joy as he began to laugh wildly.

Now this. This was real business!

With a casual wave, he stored the refined, gleaming spear back into his inventory and immediately listed it for trade in the global hub with just a few mental commands. He put it up for precisely 300 Origin Credits, significantly undercutting his competitors in the current market.

[System: Ding! A player has bought your listed item from the market.]

[System: +300 Origin Credits.]

"Haha... Hahahahahahah!" Caelus began to laugh even harder, his voice echoing in the empty dorm.

"Is this an infinite money glitch?" Caelus was grinning from ear to ear.

His SSS-Rank talent was truly, ridiculously handy. Spending 25 credits for a 300 credit return was absolutely the best legal scam one could possibly pull off.

He waited no longer. He rapidly began to extract the impurities from every single piece of weapon and armor in the pile.

[System: Extraction Successful...]

[System: You have successfully extracted the impurities from the Common 1-Star Dagger. You have obtained a Rare 1-Star Dagger.]

[System: Extraction Successful...]

[System: You have successfully extracted the impurities from the Common 1-Star Longsword. You have obtained a Rare 1-Star Longsword.]

[System: Extraction Successful...]

[System: You have successfully extracted the impurities from the Common 1-Star Basic Armor Set. You have obtained a Rare 1-Star Basic Armor Set.]

...

[System: +300 Origin Credits]

[System: +300 Origin Credits]

[System: +300 Origin Credits]

[System: +300 Origin Credits]

Origin Credits came rushing into his account like a waterfall. He sold off each piece while the market was still highly active. It wouldn’t be long before the major guilds and organizations noticed the trend and actively drove the market prices down to match his undercut level, so he had to strike while the iron was hot.

[Origin Credits: 2,715]

"I am rich." Caelus chuckled softly, staring at his glowing digital balance.

With this much liquid cash, he could easily afford to rent a new, standard middle-class apartment, which roughly cost 400 Origin Credits per month.

Of course, luxury villas were still a bit far from his reach right now. Renting one cost 3,000 Origin Credits a month. Even if he had it, he wasn’t stupid enough to blow his entire capital on extravagant housing at his current stage of development.

Naturally, Caelus did not plan on stopping here.

He was going to hoard all the cheap Common grades on the market and ruthlessly resell them as Rares.

But just as quickly as the thought formed, he refreshed the hub and realized that he had already bought the absolute last batch of cheap Common grades currently listed.

"How distasteful," Caelus clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Since there were no longer any cheap Common grades available, he decided to buy a Rare grade weapon directly from one of the listed organizations.

He wanted to test the waters.

Could his talent remove the remaining impurities from an already Rare weapon and artificially force it to reach the Epic grade? And more importantly, if he listed an Epic weapon, would someone actually be rich enough to buy it right now?

An Epic grade item was actually already sitting untouched in the market. It was an Epic 1-Star ’Nightsky Dagger’. It had been sitting there for hours with absolutely no one buying it.

The seller was asking for a staggering 2,500 Origin Credits.

Maybe the sheer price tag was simply too eye-watering for the current player base? He had checked the online forums earlier. This was technically the standard fair-market price that Epic Ranked 1-Star items went for, but nobody had that kind of liquidity on day two of the servers opening.

Caelus clicked his tongue and, in the end, decided to spend some of his profits to buy a standard Rare dagger to be on the safer side.

Immediately, a weapon named ’Windbreaker Dagger’ materialized in Caelus’s hand.

He observed its sharp, greenish blade closely and then began the extraction process.

[System: Extraction Successful...!]

[System: You have obtained the Epic 1-Star Windbreaker Dagger.]

[Item: Windbreaker Dagger (Epic) - Increases Combat Score. Has a passive bleed effect. Whenever damage is inflicted, the opponent obtains the bleed debuff, losing HP over time.]

[Combat Score: 10.55 -> 11.55]

"Interesting. So an Epic weapon increases the combat score by a total of three full points."

He already had one from the previous rare, so the increase was only two more combat score.

Well that was beside the point. What was more important was, wouldn’t that mean a Legendary dagger would increase it by four? Caelus was highly tempted to find out.

Without hesitation, he put the newly minted Epic dagger up for sale in the trading hub for a flat 2,000 Origin Credits, a full 500 credits less than the only other Epic dagger available in the market, and began waiting for a bite.