With my [Appraisal] Skill, I Became the Top of the Streaming World - Chapter 32

 What everyone assumed was just a generic crust buildup turned out to be a rare juvenile.

In the morning, a message arrived from Asada.

“Your companion for today’s run will be a single staff member from the Management Bureau. Please inspect a 20-meter perimeter around the last extraction point. This is just a preliminary check before we send in the specialist team. There are also a few unconfirmed points showing buildup activity, so if you could look into those as well based on the surrounding conditions, that would be great.”

“Understood. I'll inspect the area, including the perimeter.”

I packed the tools needed for appraisal, my streaming gear, and my private appraiser license into my bag. Yokohama is a bit further out than Shinagawa, so I left the house earlier than usual.

◇

After getting off at Minatomirai Station and heading straight for the dungeon, I spotted the Bureau staff member standing near the entrance. He looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties and was holding a tablet.

"You must be Mr. Makabe. I’m Tanaka."

"Nice to meet you."

After presenting my license, I double-checked with Tanaka.

"Is it still alright if I go ahead and stream inside today?"

"Yes, Asada mentioned it. It actually helps us out to have a visual record. If we hit anything that might touch on classified information, I'll let you know."

"Much appreciated."

Once we stepped inside, I pulled out my phone and started the stream.

"Hey everyone, I'm in Yokohama today. We're doing an additional inspection near the source rock, and just like last time, someone from the Management Bureau is accompanying me."

—Yokohama again! —Additional inspection? What's down there? —Hype!

"I don't know if we'll find anything major today. This is mostly routine confirmation work."

◇

It took about twenty minutes to descend to B5F.

The Minatomirai dungeon is incredibly humid, with muddy patches and puddles forming on the ground in some areas. You don't get this kind of moisture at the Shinagawa Pier No. 7 dungeon, so it feels fresh every time I come here.

Glancing toward the walls, their blue-green hue caught the light and glowed faintly. Even in terms of coloration, the atmosphere inside this dungeon felt completely different.

"The moisture reaches all the way out here, huh?"

"Yeah, the Minatomirai dungeon is always pretty much like this."

We eventually came to a stop in front of the source rock. The entire face of the wall was lined with tide-magic stones, glowing a pale blue. It felt like the brightness had dropped slightly compared to last time, but the source rock itself showed no structural changes.

◇

I began inspecting the perimeter starting from the extraction point.

Tanaka walked alongside me, typing notes into his phone. It was tedious work, carefully recording the location and type of each buildup.

While making progress on the primary objective—surveying the entire source rock area—I kept the stream updated, explaining the situation in detail as we went.

—Man, opening a dungeon to the public takes a ton of work. —Water-type dungeons are pretty rare in Japan anyway. Looks like way more of a hassle than usual. —Wish we could've seen some water-type monsters though. —Speaking of which, how many floors does this dungeon even have?

While keeping up with the stream chat, I began carefully running my [Appraisal] skill across the massive expanse of the source rock.

"There's quite a bit of debris here that's completely unrelated to the source rock," I noted.

As I spoke, Tanaka carefully peeled away the crust formations that were blocking my appraisal path, checking them over as he went.

"Should I send this buildup over to the Dungeon Bureau's appraisal team just in case? It'll be a pain if they complain later about wanting it saved for the archives."

Saying this, Tanaka carefully pried a piece of crust off the wall and placed it into a specialized preservation box.

Next, his eyes caught a small, blue-gray lump located lower down on the wall.

It was about four centimeters long, covered by a translucent, shell-like coating. The color blended in with the surrounding bedrock, making it look like a mere byproduct of the source rock or just a piece of loose crust.

Tanaka spoke up as he pulled out a tool.

"Should we preserve this buildup around here too? It could serve as preliminary data before the specialist team comes in."

I was about to answer when my eyes darted back to the shell.

The shape of the shell was subtly different from the surrounding crystals. The way the layers on the surface overlapped looked entirely distinct from ordinary rock sedimentation.

I could have just brushed it off as a trick of the light. However, the exact moment I looked at it, my [Appraisal] caught on something—triggering a completely different sensation than it did for normal materials.

"Wait a second."

Tanaka froze, his hand still gripping the tool. He turned his gaze toward me.

"Did you notice something?"

I didn't answer right away. Leaning in closer to look at the surface of the shell, I watched the translucent layers subtly shift in color depending on the angle of the light. For a rock sediment, the layering was far too orderly.

At that moment, I focused my [Appraisal] directly on it.

Tide-Crystal Shelled Beast (Juvenile)

Rarity: S

Status: Weakened (Due to environmental changes around the source rock)

Danger Level: Low

Current Value: Difficult to Estimate

Notes: A rare juvenile organism that resides exclusively in the micro-environment surrounding tide-magic stone source rocks. It possesses a high sensitivity to sealed objects, anomalous ritual formulas, and buried magical energy. Upon reaching adulthood, it is in high demand as an auxiliary aid for magical detection. It is currently in a weakened state due to environmental changes around the source rock. Unauthorized breeding is prohibited. Eligible for a temporary protection request with the Management Bureau. It is highly recommended to determine protection status after verifying species classification, danger level, and contamination status.

"It's alive. We shouldn't remove it."

Tanaka looked up sharply.

"...This thing is alive? Is it a monster?"

"Not a monster... exactly. It's a juvenile Tide-Crystal Shelled Beast, and it's an S-rank rarity. I believe it classifies closer to a symbiotic organism. It relies entirely on the source rock's environment to live and has almost zero aggressiveness. It's not a target for culling or hunting; it's a species that falls under protection protocols."

Tanaka tapped open his tablet to verify, but he couldn't seem to find the data right away.

The stream chat erupted instantly.

—Wait, that crust was a living creature?! 

—S-rank rarity?! 

—He was literally about to scrape it off a second ago!

—Talk about a close call... 

—Is that one of those 'dungeon-derived organisms'??

"We're not at the stage where we can just take it with us. Bureaucracy comes first."

Tanaka put his tools away.

"So it'll require a temporary protection request. I can't make that call myself, so I'll escalate this to Asada. Should we leave it untouched for today?"

"Yes. Please leave it exactly as it is."

◇

I sent the photo and the appraisal results to Asada straight from the site.

After a brief pause, a reply came back.

“Confirmed. We will officially move forward with the protection assessment. Could you come back tomorrow? We will proceed with the paperwork for the temporary protection request on-site.”

“Understood.”

Tanaka and I turned back, walking side-by-side along the path we came.

Just before rounding the corner of the passageway, I glanced back one last time. For a split second, it looked like the blue-gray lump on the wall shifted ever so slightly. I tried to look closer to confirm, but in the next instant, it was perfectly still again.

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