["By the way, how do you have so much salt?"]
Ethan remembered that salt was considered a luxury seasoning on the trading market.
After all, there weren't many players who had salt, but there were plenty who needed it.
Because of that, whenever salt appeared on the trading market, it would sell out almost instantly, even at a high price.
If Ethan hadn't gotten countless Soy Sauce Fruits early on and traded them for salt, he probably wouldn't have been able to provide salted food for everyone in the manor now.
That was why, he was so surprised that David had enough salt to use on Boom Boom Mushrooms.
["I've just been lucky lately,"] David laughed, ["When I opened a treasure chest, I got a blueprint for a salt well, so now I have a salt mine."]
["There aren't that many people in Area A to begin with. And even though it's called the World Channel in the Magic Book, it only lets people in Area A communicate."]
["There are only about a thousand people. I can't possibly sell all the salt from my mine."]
["So I figured I might as well put it to good use and grow some Boom Boom Mushrooms to eat."]
"..."
Salt, which was a luxury item, had somehow become something to "put to good use" in David's hands.
Ethan was speechless.
Sometimes... Comparing yourself to other people was just infuriating.
Even with a cheat ability, there was still a gap compared to someone blessed by fate.
A true Child of Fortune does nothing, he wins. He does something, he wins harder.
["Forget the Boom Boom Mushrooms. I've got plenty on my side too! What I need now is salt. How about you send me some?"] Ethan suggested, ["Of course, I won't let you take a loss. I'll trade you something for it."]
["Lord Ethan, you're being too polite. We're in the same boat now. If you win this competition, I get to win along with you,"] David replied, ["If you lose, I'm in trouble too, right?"]
Since David had put it that way, Ethan stopped beating around the bush.
["So what do you need right now?"]
["I need..."]
After thinking for a moment, David finally said, ["I need a decent weapon. Right now I've got a willow-leaf saber, but all the skills I've learned are healing skills, like Heal and Recovery."]
["Those skills are pretty good, but I can't stay alive with just a wand."]
["I'm sure Lord Ethan understands, right?"]
["If you run into monsters out in the wild, you can't exactly rely on a wand to survive. I don't know any offensive spells, so I can't exactly poke monsters in the nose with my wand, can I?"]
["So I'm hoping I can somehow attach my wand to my willow-leaf saber. That way, I can cast magic while holding the saber. Wouldn't that make me much safer?"]
["Oh, right!"]
["The important thing is, I also learned a universal saber technique before. Any class can learn it. It's called Swift Blade Cuts Through Chaos."]
["So what I really need now is to combine my wand and my saber. I heard Lord Ethan's territory has already upgraded to a manor, so I wanted to ask if your Alchemy Furnace or Workshop could do something like that."]
["It doesn't have to look fancy. Even a rough job is fine, as long as it works."]
If this had been before Ethan had obtained the Fusion Tempering Furnace, it really would have been difficult.
But now that he had this miraculous fusion artifact, David's request was even simpler than mining salt. Naturally, Ethan wasn't going to refuse.
["No problem!"]
Ethan agreed immediately.
David probably hadn't expected such a straightforward answer, so he immediately sent over a huge amount of salt.
Trade notification from Lord David of Region Two...
[5,000 Salt + 5,000 Boom Boom Mushrooms + 1 Wand + 1 Willow-Leaf Saber: Exchange for 1 Wood]
[Accept trade?]
'Yes!'
In an instant, Ethan's backpack was stuffed full of salt and a pile of Boom Boom Mushrooms.
But just as David had said, every Boom Boom Mushroom he sent looked wilted, as if it were barely alive.
Ethan couldn't help but sigh at how lucky David really was.
'As expected of a man who ate the Lucky Flower.'
Ethan was ready to begin fusing the weapons.
But he didn't want anyone seeing his Fusion Tempering Furnace. After all, you shouldn't flaunt your wealth.
If the manor only contained his own residents, it wouldn't matter.
But there were still outsiders staying there, like Mr. White and the dwarves.
Ethan had to be a little careful.
He returned to his villa and, after closing the door, took the Fusion Tempering Furnace out of its capsule.
The way to release it was, throw the capsule onto the open space where you wanted the furnace to appear.
BOOM!
After a cloud of smoke cleared, a massive tempering furnace appeared before Ethan, completely filling the villa's living room.
Fortunately, his villa was large enough.
Otherwise, there wouldn't have been room for such an enormous furnace.
After entering the Fusion Tempering Furnace, Ethan decided to test it first with Lord David's equipment to make sure nothing was wrong with it.
After all, both the wand and the willow-leaf saber were just ordinary pieces of equipment.
Even if the fusion failed or they were ruined, Ethan had plenty of good weapons. He could just combine a few others and compensate David without any trouble.
But the wands and equipment he was using himself, losing even one of them would hurt.