Chapter 4: Jackpot!
A flea market is a place where items from various eras mix, both genuine and fake. If one doesn't have a sharp eye or adequate historical knowledge, they're likely to end up buying cheap knockoffs at sky-high prices.
However, for Ren, the flea market isn't just a place to hunt for antiques. It's a treasure trove filled with mystical relics from ancient times.
At the largest flea market in Tokyo, he slowly moved from one stall to another, spending five to ten minutes at each. His sharp eyes weren't just the result of practice or experience but also due to a supernatural talent he named Insight Gaze.
This ability allowed Ren to see the true essence of any object he focused on. If he stared at an object long enough, it would emit a faint glow, and a simple description would appear in his mind.
Thanks to this ability, over the past year, Ren had collected ten magical artifacts. After realizing there was a mysterious side to this world, he began focusing on finding magical artifacts for self-protection. After all, his supernatural ability—Insight Gaze—didn't grant him combat power. He was still an ordinary person who could easily be killed by evil spirits.
Today, he intended to add to his collection.
Walking through the bustling crowd, he stopped at a small stall filled with various old trinkets.
The stall owner was an old man with a friendly smile and a cunning glint in his eye, enthusiastically welcoming customers.
"Feel free to look around, young man! Everything here is genuine, no fakes!" He said confidently.
However, Ren never trusted such vendors. He had too many experiences where "genuine antiques" turned out to be cheap replicas or outright nonsense. With a calm expression, he began inspecting the items at the stall, picking them up one by one while secretly activating Insight Gaze.
—[Old Bronze Statue: Made by a group of craftsmen in a small warehouse. Suitable as a decoration for a cafe with an ancient theme.]