A Dangerous Addiction

"What is it?"

"They're enhancement stones!"

"...!"

Tadat! Tae-hyun quickly ran over. Where Lee Da-bi pointed, boxes filled with enhancement stones were stacked high.

"Who wrote this?"

"Is—is that really what's important right now?"

Lee Da-bi was right. What mattered right now was the mountain of enhancement stones.

Come to think of it, I haven't really been using my Enhancement skill lately.

Tae-hyun pulled out his Ancient Hammer (+7). He had successfully enhanced the Ancient Hammer to +7, completely unaware that the enhancement mechanics had changed between Pan-On 1 and Pan-On 2, recklessly attempting it anyway! Thanks to that, it had served him incredibly well so far. Of course, after that, he hadn't dared touch enhancement again out of fear that he might break it!

My current Enhancement skill level is 5...

With an Enhancement skill level of 5, he could safely enhance items up to +4 without any risk of failure. In fact, all of Tae-hyun's gear, except for his unique items, was basically fully enhanced to the safe limit.

Raising the Enhancement skill was definitely too inefficient, though.

The reason Tae-hyun had left his Enhancement skill alone and focused on other skills was that the skill had become incredibly inefficient in Pan-On 2. Even if a level 5 skill guaranteed success up to +4, the skill level itself rose at a snail's pace. To make matters worse, to level up an already slow-growing skill, one had to acquire hundreds or thousands of pieces of equipment and dump countless enhancement stones into them. And cheap gear didn't even grant experience. It had to be decent equipment. Not to mention, the price of enhancement stones was astronomical!

For Tae-hyun, who owned a territory that devoured gold like a black hole, he had neither the financial leeway nor the time to level up his Enhancement skill. It was much faster to spend that time raising his Blacksmithing Skill, Engineering, or completing class quests.

But now that all these enhancement stones and equipment are right in front of me... I'm starting to get the itch...

Tae-hyun's fingers twitched.

There was a saying in Pan-On 1:

There ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠might be players who have never enhanced, but there is no player who has enhanced only once!

The magic of enhancement—once you start, you can't stop! The proof was that even though the Enhancement skill had become notoriously difficult in Pan-On 2, there were still countless blacksmith players who remained utterly obsessed with it. More than a few blacksmiths had ruined themselves financially after dipping their toes into the enhancement pool!

"Hmm, maybe I'll try just a little..."

"Are you going to enhance?"

"Yeah. We've got plenty of gear lying around here anyway."

"Well, if you enhance them, we can sell them for a higher price, so I guess that's not a bad idea."

Lee Da-bi quickly calculated the profit margins. The Orc equipment here was roughly level 100 to 150. At this stage of the game, that meant they were items that could be sold to high-level players and even rankers! If they could successfully enhance them a few times, they would fetch a pretty penny.

"Alright. Shall we give it a shot?"

"...Tae-hyun. There's something a bit strange about the look in your eyes..."

"Haha. You must be imagining things."

"Ah! It's a trap. It says it's a Goblin-style trap that shoots flames from the side wall if you walk past!"

"Ooh!"

"Amazing! Jup! As expected of Jup!"

The raider players chatted amiably. Behind them, Cain, who had been standing with an expressionless face, spoke up.

"Great. Move forward."

"...Huh?"

"I said move forward, you bastards!"

"No, we just told you there's a trap!"

"That's exactly why you have to move forward! Hiss, hiss!"

Cain swung his weapon with genuine intent. Terrified by the sheer momentum, the raider players scrambled forward in a panic.

"Argh! That guy is crazy!"

"What are you doing?!"

Click—

"Get your potions out!! Potions!"

"Where's the fire resistance potion?!"

"Swap your gear and get down! Just get down for now!!"

The raider players scrambled and leaped in every direction! Cain watched the spectacle with a deeply satisfied expression.

"Bwahaha! This isn't even one-hundredth of what I suffered under Kim Tae-hyun, you punks!"

"..."

Beside him, Choi Sang-yun and Jeong Su-hyeok slowly drifted away. Choi Sang-yun thought to himself:

What on earth did Tae-hyun do to this guy to make him lose his mind like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this?

"Whew, pant, pant..."

"We survived!"

The raider players shed tears as they embraced each other. Normally, if they had taken a direct hit, they would have been forced to log out immediately. Yet, by cooperating, they had managed to survive. They were a bunch who originally possessed zero sense of friendship or teamwork, but having survived this ordeal, a sudden surge of camaraderie and team spirit blossomed among them.

"This is it! If we do this, we can survive!"

"That's right! We just have to trust each other!"

"Let's make sure we all survive this together!"

"...??"

Watching from behind, Jeong Su-hyeok tilted his head in confusion.

Wait, wasn't coordinating like that what we were supposed to be practicing?

They had entered the dungeon to prepare for the tournament, but it felt like these weirdos were the ones actually building synergy and turning into a proper team.

"Shut up, you lot!"

Cain barked loudly. The raider players glared at Cain. They had almost died just now because he pushed them into the trap.

"Isn't this too much?!"

"Yeah! Cain! A human being shouldn't act like this!"

"What are you talking about, you punks? You guys used to go around mugging people, so why are you acting like saints now?"

Cain turned his head away, utterly dismissive. If a genuinely innocent player had said that, he might have felt a twinge of guilt. But wasn't one of these very bastards the one who had tried to strip him of his gear? How dare they play the victim!

"Move forward, you bastards! If you take a single step back, I'm attacking!"

"We're going to tell Tae-hyun!"

"Go ahead and tell him, you idiots! You should be thanking your lucky stars that Kim Tae-hyun isn't here! If he were, he wouldn't have even let you use potions!"

"Ah, why ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠are my ears so itchy all of a sudden?"

"Tae-hyun. Aren't you doing too much enhancement? If the gear breaks, we won't even make our money back!"

"Huh? I'm doing this fully expecting them to break in the first place."

Tae-hyun planned to use the Orc equipment and enhancement stones piled up here to level up his Enhancement skill. Since the gear was decent and there were plenty of enhancement stones, if he kept trying, he would eventually be able to raise his skill level! His goal was Enhancement skill level 6. If he could use everything here to raise his skill level by even 1, it would be an incredible achievement. That was how notoriously difficult the Enhancement skill was to level up.

Understanding Tae-hyun's intent, Lee Da-bi's face turned pale.

"Stop it! Do you know how much we could get if we sold those?!"

"We have to make this kind of sacrifice!"

"No one who pours everything into the Enhancement skill ever ends up well! Do you know how many of our guild members quit the game because of that skill?!"

Lee Da-bi was on pins and needles, but Tae-hyun paid her no mind and swung his hammer. Destruction is the destiny of those who enhance!

Huh?

He had been mindlessly hammering away, and somehow, he had successfully reached the realm of +8!

Flash!

A brilliant light erupted from the Orc heavy armor. Seeing this, Lee Da-bi asked in a trembling voice.

"No—no way...?"

"It's +8. Time for the next enhancement."

Even at +8, Tae-hyun didn't hesitate to go for the next tier. It was a cold-blooded ruthlessness devoid of blood or tears. However, any blacksmith player who had ever done enhancement would have nodded in agreement. Enhancement was something you simply couldn't stop!

"N-No...! Please stop...! If we sell that! If we sell that!!"

Crack!

The armor beneath the Ancient ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Hammer instantly turned to dust with a soft crumbling sound.

"..."

"Ugh..."

"Huh?"

"Waaaaah!"

"Are you crying?!"

Lee Da-bi was shedding genuine tears of bitter grief! It was a reaction even Tae-hyun hadn't anticipated.

"N-No, I mean... this kind of thing is bound to happen when you're enhancing."

"Sob, sob!"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"Then stop enhancing while saying that!"

Even as his mouth apologized, Tae-hyun's hands were already grabbing the next armor to begin enhancing!

Flash!

Once again, he reached the realm of +8.

Only then did Tae-hyun feel a sense of cognitive dissonance.

Wait, something's weird.

The enhancement success rate was far too high. Tae-hyun's current Enhancement skill level was 5. With each step up, the success rate of enhancement was supposed to plummet by half. With his current skill level, the probability of successfully enhancing to +8 should normally be only around 6%. Yet, he had already succeeded twice. To call it a mere coincidence felt too much like absurd luck.

"Ah?! It's +8 again, so stop now... No! I said no!"

"I need to test a theory!"

"Stop it!!"

Lee Da-bi began to wail. But Tae-hyun did not stop.

"...There's still plenty of gear left!"

By the time Lee Da-bi had run completely out of tears to shed, Tae-hyun had realized a few facts.

The enhancement success rate is way too high!

In fact, Tae-hyun had even succeeded in enhancing an item to +9. Normally, this was a realm that was impossible to reach even if one brought hundreds of cheap items and continuously enhanced them. Piercing through a probability that dropped below 0.1% repeatedly was close to impossible. Yet, Tae-hyun had succeeded.

Did the Luck stat affect enhancement? Damn it, if I had known sooner... No, even if I did, nothing would have changed. It's too risky to enhance my current gear anyway.

Succeeding at +8 happened about once every five tries. Succeeding at +9 happened about once every ten tries. His luck had just been strangely good at the very beginning, but as he continued to enhance the equipment, the probability settled into a rough average.

20%, 10%... With these odds, it's too risky to enhance the gear I'm wearing right now...

The gear Tae-hyun currently wore was not common crafted items, but unique, hard-to-find equipment. He couldn't risk enhancing those items based on these odds. If they broke, Tae-hyun would be the one crying instead of Lee Da-bi.

Hmm... but it's such a waste. Even at this level, my conditions are far better than anyone else's... Is there a way to utilize this...?

Tae-hyun scrolled through his skills, pondering how he could put this Enhancement skill to good use.

"...!"

The skills of a Lazedan Blacksmith, which featured high-risk, high-reward options. The skill to craft items with the 'Unstable' option, as well as enhancing them, were also skills of a Lazedan Blacksmith. The 'Unstable' option drastically lowered durability and increased the destruction rate, but boosted overall performance exponentially!

What if I craft a weapon I can use with the Unstable option, and then apply enhancement to it?

A paradigm shift! Instead of trying to make a good weapon that would last forever, he would craft an unstable weapon and then enhance it to the limit! Tae-hyun, who had been looking for a decent weapon anyway, found this idea incredibly appealing.

If I apply enhancement to an unstable weapon and draw out its maximum performance, wouldn't it perform better than most artifacts? It'll break quickly, so it'll have to be disposable, but I can just cover that with sheer numbers.