“Aagh!”

But life wasn’t that easy.

That was life for you—things never worked out the way you wanted.

The Wanderer’s Shoes were a good item.

They had a movement speed option, and even curse resistance.

But...

An item affected by Agility!

With desperate hope, Tae-hyun checked the gloves.

“...”

Rufo couldn’t understand Tae-hyun at all.

Sure, it was fine that he’d brought out a good item. At first Rufo had been startled, but Tae-hyun was an Avatar. If he was an Avatar, then maybe he had hidden talents—maybe he could pull something good out of the warehouse. It stung, but that much he could accept.

But why, after that, was he rolling around on the ground?

“...?”

“What are you looking at? Huh? What are you staring at?”

“I-I didn’t do anything...”

Rufo had done nothing except exist nearby, and now he was getting Tae-hyun’s frustration dumped on him. Wronged, he shut his mouth.

“Ugh. Whatever. It’s still a good item...”

Tae-hyun recovered quickly and pushed himself to his feet.

If the affected stat had been Luck, it would’ve been downright broken—but even now, it was plenty good.

About twenty-five percent?

Roughly twenty-five percent of the affected stat was being converted into defense.

Tae-hyun’s current Constitution was 145.

That meant the coat’s defense was around 36.

Since he’d be wearing armor underneath it too, that wasn’t bad at all for a coat. In the first place, items like coats and belts were worn more for their options than for raw defense.

And in that regard, the Wanderer’s Set was a masterpiece of flashy options.

“Rufo. There were enhancement stones in the warehouse too, right?”

“Pardon? There are, but... why do you ask?”

“I’ve got a use for them.”

“No, wait—why would you need enhancement stones if you’re not even a blacksmith?!”

Rufo grumbled, but Tae-hyun ignored him and told him to bring them out.

And not long after, Rufo found out why.

Is he an Avatar, or a blacksmith?!

The Wanderer’s Set was a precious set of items, something the merchant group had stumbled across by chance.

A rare set, said to have once belonged to the wanderer Kainda.

It already had excellent performance on its own.

Once enhanced on top of that, it became an item impressive enough to shock even Rufo.

But even more shocking than the gear was Tae-hyun’s enhancement skill.

That guy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠isn’t even breathing...

As casually as breathing, he’d succeeded every single enhancement without failing once.

At this point, Rufo could only wonder what the hell this man really was.

While Rufo stood there in confusion, Tae-hyun was thinking.

Should I push the enhancement higher, or not?

The current enhancement level was 4.

If it failed, the item could break.

Last time, he hadn’t really known what he was doing, so he’d been fearless—but now that he knew failure could destroy the item, he couldn’t just try it lightly.

Enhancing was supposed to be something you did on easy-to-get gear, not on hard-to-replace items like the Wanderer’s Set.

Tae-hyun had only pushed cleanly to +4 because his enhancement skill was Level 4. Beyond that... honestly, even he was nervous.

No matter how high his Luck was, failure could still happen.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Yeah. Let’s stop here.

Even at this point, the defense had already risen plenty.

About fifty percent of the stat now?

It was on par with some pretty solid armor.

For support equipment to have this much defense...

Now that enhancement had brought it this far, greed started creeping in, but...

Tae-hyun held back.

Now wasn’t the time to gamble.

There would be another chance to do this kind of enhancing later.

Right now, what mattered was growing as fast as possible and building a foundation first.

Even while he was doing this, the rankers were still charging ahead.

I can catch up, right?

He’d made a big declaration to his father. There was nothing more ridiculous than puffing yourself up like that and then going, Well, I started too late, so I guess I can’t catch up after all.

Tae-hyun intended to do it.

By whatever means necessary.

“Good. Then...”

“Are we leaving for somewhere else now?”

“No. Let’s make one more thing before we go.”

Rufo let out a series of heavy sighs.

But this was absolutely necessary.

“What are you making? Huh?”

“A face covering. You don’t mind if I use some of this silk, right?”

“Pardon? Wait, if you’re making a face covering, why are you using that silk... that’s high-grade silk!”

Tae-hyun treated someone else’s merchant warehouse like it was his own pocket.

Rufo nearly had a heart attack and tried to stop him.

But Tae-hyun had already gotten there first with the scissors.

“Haha. Let’s share a little.”

“If it’s just a face covering, you can use that cloth over there!”

“The color’s drab. Don’t like it.”

“They’re both ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠black!”

“Doesn’t this black feel a little prettier?”

Tae-hyun had made the face covering for one reason.

Too many bastards recognize me!

The chefs and mechanical engineering players weren’t a problem, but the Tailors’ Guild alone had already drawn attention from tailor players.

Of course it had—he’d spoken face-to-face with the Tailors’ Guild Master himself.

Fortunately, he’d passed through quickly enough that they didn’t seem to realize it was him, but that would become a problem later when he started clearing quests.

There were too many people out there holding grudges against him.

No good comes from showing my face for no reason.

In Fantasy Online 1 and Fantasy Online 2 alike, plenty of people went around with their faces covered.

Helmets, masks, veils—whatever.

It wasn’t strange to wear something like that.

Too many people did.

Tae-hyun decided that from now on, he’d keep his face covered.

Not because he was going to meet Lee Se-yeon.

And especially not because Lee Se-yeon had said she’d kill him if she did.

“So? Do I look cool?”

“...You look like a robber.”

“Doesn’t matter, as long as nobody recognizes me.”

With the set items equipped and the face covering on, he had a pretty convincing look.

Long coat, gloves, shoes, belt.

Underneath, he wore the Genoma City Mercenary Officer’s Armor he’d found in the warehouse.

Not as good as the set item, but still a pretty solid Rare-grade piece of equipment.

No one looking at him would ever guess Tae-hyun was a player who hadn’t even hit Level 30 yet.

He looked at least above 50 or 60, and if you were being generous, you might even mistake him for a near-ranker.

“Now that I’m disguised... should we go gather people?”

“...?”

Rufo thought he must have heard wrong.

“Gather people? What do you mean by that?”

“I can’t clear a pirate crew by myself.”

“Our merchant group can provide mercenaries...”

“And what good are those supposed to do?”

McCraney was an ally, but she wasn’t some endlessly generous saint.

If she could’ve taken down the pirate crew by herself in the first place, she already would have.

Naturally, she wasn’t willing to support him with more than a limited number of mercenaries.

The rest, Tae-hyun would have to solve on his own—with the power of an Avatar.

“They’re decent mercenaries!”

Rufo complained, offended at how casually they’d been dismissed. Tae-hyun clicked his tongue.

“That’s your problem. You keep trying to solve everything with force.”

“...?”

“Just follow me. I’ll show you how it’s done.”

Genoma City Plaza.

Countless players were bustling about, busy with their own business.

“Looking for a priest to help clear the haunted graveyard outside Genoma City! We’ve got two solid tanks, so there’s no way you’ll die! We’ll give loot priority!”

Some parties were recruiting people for dungeon runs.

“Level 34 blacksmith looking for a dungeon party! I can do Sharpen Edge, Rust Removal, and repairs! I wear heavy armor too, so I can do a bit of tanking!”

And some production-class players were desperately trying to get into parties.

Clank, clank—

Through the players, a group of well-dressed merchant personnel began parting the crowd.

“What’s this?”

“Is this some kind of quest?”

A whole crowd of obviously important-looking NPCs ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was pouring into the plaza.

Any player with half a brain would be excited.

Once the preparations were complete, Tae-hyun cleared his throat and stepped onto the stage.

Now that even his clothes were completely different—and he had the face covering on—there was no way anyone could identify him.

“I’ve cast the voice-amplifying spell.”

“Good.”

Standing above them, Tae-hyun looked out over the crowd.

Just moments ago it had been noisy as hell, but now the plaza had gone quiet.

Everyone was staring at him in silence.

There was only one thing they wanted to know.

What the hell is this guy about to say, making this much of a scene?

“Good morning, everyone. A pleasure to meet you.”

“...”

The mood turned icy in an instant.