'System, how does the Upgrade System Artifact and Upgrade Non-System Artifact work?'

{Upgrade Artifact Services will increase any artifact by one Rank.}

'What is the cost of the service?'

{Upgrade Artifact Service pricing is dependent on the Rank and quality of materials for the artifact host wishes to upgrade.}

'Okay, so higher Rank artifacts will cost more to upgrade than lower Rank ones. Is there a pricing table somewhere? Like with the Item section, everything has prices labeled.'

{Prices for Upgrading System Artifacts is fixed. The cost to upgrade a System Artifact is 50% of the price of purchasing an artifact from the System that is one Rank higher than artifact being upgraded.}

'So, to upgrade a C Rank artifact, I have to pay half the price of a B Rank artifact. That isn't too bad, the B Rank stuff is a lot more expensive than a C Rank. System, how does the upgrade affect the umm… abilities of an upgraded artifact?'

{Upgraded artifacts will have their effects strengthened to the new Rank.}

Damion was quite happy with that answer. He could get B Rank artifacts for less than what it would cost to straight up buy the B Rank artifact, all he had to do was upgrade his current C Rank artifacts. Of course, that left him with the question of, did the regular B Rank artifact offer the same effects as the C Rank? Or was each piece of gear completely different? For that answer, he would have to wait until he reached B Rank, since he could not get the B Rank artifacts from the System until then.

'System, what about the cost to Upgrade Non-System Artifacts?'

{Cost is dependent upon material used in the original creation of the artifact. If material is substandard the cost may be substantial.}

'What would be the cost to upgrade my D Rank spatha to C Rank?'

{Analyzing….}

*Ding*

{Analysis complete. To increase D Rank sword in inventory to C Rank would cost 280 credits.}

'Why so much?'

{Materials used to create the D Rank artifact have been pushed to their limit. Red Steel is not a suitable material to upgrade artifact to C Rank.}

'Will the materials be changed? Or strengthened?'

{The Red Steel will be replaced with Mithril. This will enhance the sword's strength and durability and promote it to C Rank.}

'Will it gain any other abilities? Like artifacts purchased from the System?'

{Negative. The Fire attack glyph on the artifact is already optimized. No further improvements can be made.}

'You mean the upgrade process will… optimize any Non-System artifact and improve any enchantments on them, but not add new ones?'

{Affirmative.}

'Well, that is useful,' Damion thought as he considered how to use the Magic System to rake in the credits.

If he started an artifact upgrade service, he could have the Magic System analyze an artifact and then he could charge a person magic cores to cover the cost of the upgrade, as well as enough to give him a hefty profit.

'System, can I upgrade artifacts to Ranks above my own?'

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{Negative. Purchase and Upgrade Services are limited to the host's Rank.}

'Well, that will slow me down a bit,' Damion thought. 'But it will give me a believable progression path, no one would believe me if I told them I could upgrade a B Rank artifact to A Rank when I am only C Rank. But if I start with doing low quality, cheap artifacts, and turn them into quality works, then I might just be able to build a reputation. Then, when I claim to be able to do higher Rank artifacts, people will be more likely to believe me.'

'System, what about damaged artifacts? Can you repair them?'

{Repair service will unlock when the System reaches level 5. However, damaged artifacts will be repaired during an Upgrade and will be reflected in cost. This also applies to System Artifacts.}

'I should really go visit Leland and Flannery,' Damion realized. Those two would certainly be happy if he could upgrade and repair half of their stock. The problem of course was going to be payment. He wanted magic cores. Though, in Saung, the Graveyard C Rank dungeon gave consistent Dark affinity cores and because of that the cores were quite cheap. He could probably stock up on a lot of cores for his Magic Core Converter.

While Damion was making plans to return to Saung after graduation so that he could make lots of credits for the Magic System Shop, Mage Teft was returning to Argentum and Silver Spire Magic Academy.

"Dean Teft, would you please come with me," Justiciar Straus said when the S Rank Water mage emerged from the portal bringing her back to Argentum.

"Whatever for?" Teft asked.

"The Bianco family has asked that we question you regarding the death of their family member, Theodore Bianco."

"Young Theodore has died?" Teft said, with fake shock. "How ever did that happen?"

"He was murdered, and the Bianco family has named you as a possible suspect."

"Oh, very well, I will go with you to be interviewed. But I must say, it seems rather silly to question me. Here is my tablet," Teft said as she handed over her tablet. "As a representative of Silver Spire Magic Academy, for the last two weeks, I have been traveling to the different Green and Yellow Zone cities and towns testing new students. I think if you review the data on my tablet, it will show I had no time to be able to murder anyone."

Justiciar Straus did not feel a pulse of magic from his lie detection artifact, but he knew how someone worded their answer could allow evasion of such artifacts. Still, he was not in a position to question an S Rank mage. The only reason he was even here to meet with Dean Teft was because another S Rank demanded him to. As long as he reported back that he had met with her, he could consider his duty fulfilled.

"Yes, this looks all in order," Justiciar Straus said as he skimmed through Dean Teft's tablet and saw a very full itinerary. That along with the teleportation logs for all the cities that could connect to Rubrum, Straus could tell Dean Teft had no time to be able to reach Rubrum and kill Theodore Bianco in the Bianco Estate. The only way she could have accomplished such a feat would be if she were a Spatial mage, or had close ties to a Spatial mage, which nothing her history indicated such connections.

"May I go then?" Teft said as she took her tablet back from Justiciar Straus.

"Yes, of course. Thank you for your time, Dean Teft."

Mage Teft quickly left Argentum and headed to Silver Spire. She had watched Damion's Wilderness Survival course exam while she was away and had a few questions for Headmaster Sorin.

"Welcome back, Helga," Headmaster Sorin greeted as she stormed into his office.

"Explain."

"I felt Damion was not only not being challenged by the exam, but he was also making it too easy for the other students. Even my grandson was clinging to his thighs to get through the exam."

"And the beginning?"

"Oh, well Professor Klein felt that Mage Wells would benefit from having to think quickly. He was in no danger, Professor Klein assured me he could open another portal and catch the boy before he hit the ground. Clearly, it was not a real concern."

"Yes, his mastery of Ice Sword is surprising."

"Well, onto more unpleasant things. Eddard Bianco is quite furious with the murder of his chosen successor. Do you have anything you would like to add, regarding the situation?"

"I met with Justiciar Straus when I arrived in Argentum. He cleared me. So, I see no reason to continue this charade."

"It is a dangerous game you are playing," Headmaster Sorin told her.

"Game? I don't play very many games. But I must say, if someone was already given a warning about attacking my student, it can hardly come as a surprise when they are punished for not heeding my previous warning. Some members of your family should remember that."

Headmaster Sorin slammed his hands on his desk and the mana in the air around him began to swirl. Teft's own aura surged as the two fought to control the ambient mana in the office. After a moment, the brief exchange ended in a stalemate.

"The Sorin family is not a weak family of healers. Do not think you can avoid repercussions due to lack of proof."

"See to it that we don't need to walk down that road and it won't matter," Teft responded.

"Are you trying to start a war between the noble families?" Headmaster Sorin asked as Teft turned to leave his office.

"Certainly not, I am simply looking out for my student. Just as your noble families look after your members."

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