novelraw Chapter 58: Not for Sale
Chapter 58: Not for Sale
Watching Penny flee in embarrassment, Leon couldn’t help but chuckle.
After all, teasing a sheltered girl like her—seeing that mix of shyness and fluster—was always amusing.
Of course, Leon wasn’t only teasing Penny for fun. He genuinely thought she was a walking lucky charm.
In the Stardew Valley Fair event of the game, if you find Penny near the spinning wheel game and talk to her, she’ll tell you that after she won ten times in a row, the stall owner stopped letting her play.
Ten wins in a row—who could claim Penny’s luck wasn’t extraordinary? Even Leon himself usually lost nine out of ten spins when betting star tokens, which made the contrast all the sharper.
Cracking open a geode was basically like opening a mystery box—luck played a huge role in what you got. This was the kind of thing that came down to superstition. The difference between finding a rock and unearthing a prismatic shard was enough to make you believe that lucky people could do anything.
Now that Leon had made up for the “superstition” part, it was up to fate to see if it favored him.
He hopped on his bike and continued north. The library wasn’t far from the blacksmith’s shop, so it didn’t take long before he arrived at its door.
Even from outside, the heavy stone building radiated heat.
Leon took out the Omni Geode, pushed open the wooden door, and stepped inside. A short, stocky man with a full beard and a gray apron was hammering a pumpkin-sized mallet down on an ingot of metal. The crisp clangs rang out over the roaring heat from the nearby furnace, making it clear this was not a man to trifle with.“Hello, customer. What can I do for you?”
Clint had noticed Leon entering. Seeing the unfamiliar face, he set down his hammer and walked over, wiping sweat from his brow.
“Hello, I’m Leon, a farmer who just moved to Stardew Valley.”
Leon introduced himself before holding up the Omni Geode. “I’m here for you to crack this open.”
“An Omni Geode, huh? Haven’t seen one of these in a long time.” Clint eyed the geode with interest before realizing his lapse in manners.
“Oh, sorry. I’m Clint, the town’s only blacksmith. Didn’t mean to ignore you—it’s just that I tend to get distracted when I see minerals.”
“No problem. People who take their work seriously are always worth trusting. That’s why I came to you to crack it open. I’ll leave it in your hands.”
Leon’s flattery came easily. After all, a little praise cost nothing, yet could gain goodwill and make things go more smoothly. That wasn’t flattery—it was social skill.
Clint’s eyes narrowed with satisfaction, though his reserved nature kept his expression calm. His tone, however, grew friendlier. “Since it’s our first meeting, I won’t charge you the labor fee this time. But next time, you’ll have to pay full price. Cracking a geode isn’t exactly easy work.”
“How much is it usually?” Leon asked curiously.
“Twenty-five.”
Same price as in the game. Leon’s face tightened slightly—real-life prices were much higher than in the game. Many items in-game sold for far less than they would in reality.
So why was Clint still charging twenty-five coins per geode? That was expensive. You could have a good meal at the Starfruit Saloon for that.
Luckily, thanks to his earlier compliments, Clint was waiving the fee this time. Otherwise, Leon might have hesitated—if he paid twenty-five and got a plain rock, the pain would be real.
Clint, unaware of Leon’s inner shock, cleared the ingot off the anvil and beckoned him over. “Put the geode here. I’ll give it one good strike.”
Snapping back to the moment, Leon placed the geode on the anvil. The moment he got close, the furnace’s heat washed over him, beading his forehead with sweat. Instinctively, he stepped back.
Clint, unfazed, had long since grown used to the heat. Raising the massive hammer high, he locked his gaze on the geode and brought it down in a single, precise blow to its center.
Clang.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the surface. Clint gestured for Leon to come closer. “You can pry it open yourself to see what’s inside. Could be ore, a gem, maybe an artifact—or it could just be stone. Good luck.”
“Oh? You’re not going to open it for me?” Leon asked as he approached.
“Many people enjoy prying it open themselves for the surprise and fun of it. So I usually just break the outer shell and let the owner finish the job. But if you’d prefer, I can do it for you,” Clint explained.
“I’ll do it myself.”
Leon considered himself one of those people Clint was talking about. He moved in and began peeling away the cracked shell.
As he worked, his eyes kept drifting to Clint’s hammer. It was entirely black, but that didn’t seem to be its original color. Around the handle, where it was most often gripped, faint violet glimmers shone through. The color reminded Leon of the game’s rarest, hardest-to-obtain Iridium Ore.
Just as Leon was wondering if Clint’s hammer was forged from Iridium, a dazzling splash of deep ocean-blue light appeared through the cracked shell.
His heart skipped a beat—could it be an Aquamarine? But as he kept peeling, revealing the full treasure inside, his breath caught.
A square-cut gemstone of five colors—ocean blue, amber orange, blood red, deep violet, and forest green—rested quietly amid the shattered remains. Under the glow of the furnace, it reflected an enchanting rainbow light.
Such a unique shape and color—Leon recognized it instantly, even if this was his first time seeing one in real life.
“Prismatic Shard (Mineral): An ultra-rare, powerful material of unknown origin.”
With the system prompt confirming it, Leon knew for sure—he had just pulled the rarest mineral in the game.
Clint’s eyes widened. “A Prismatic Shard! Mr. Leon, your luck is incredible. This is an extremely rare mineral. If you’re willing to sell, I can offer you 2,500 coins.”
“No thanks. Not for sale.” Leon smiled and declined.
The Prismatic Shard had too many uses, and its drop rate was ridiculously low. He’d have to be desperate to part with it.