Warhorses and the Allure of Enhancement
Mu-hyuk summoned his Skeleton Warhorse as well.
“Tch.”
Standing side by side with Valsian’s warhorse, it looked even more shabby.
Someday, I too…!
As that thought crossed his mind, a series of growling sounds echoed from behind.
Turning his head, he saw that every single user had summoned their warhorses.
“Oh ho.”
All the users were mounted up, creating quite the spectacle.
“That makes you go ‘oh ho’ in admiration?”
“It’s cool.”
“Still clumsy.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course. They need to get much stronger. If they just clear this dungeon, they’ll be rock-solid…”
“I see. Yeah, aha.”
Mu-hyuk gave vague responses to Valsian as he sank into his own imagination.
What if all these guys summoned skeletons?
The sheer number would be unimaginable.
At least they could sweep away a whole kingdom, right?
Of course, powerful mage NPCs would unleash wide-area magic before they even got close, melting them away. But if they managed to breach the kingdom’s borders?
They could at least topple every building.
No, a kingdom might be overkill.
Since something like that would never happen anyway, his imagination scaled back a bit.
What about territory wars or guild wars?
It naturally led to thoughts of guild wars and territory battles, which dominated Episode 2.
The desire to form a guild welled up, along with greed to recruit top rankers—Gangster Necromancers or other summoner users.
They’d be a huge help.
Mages, knights, archers, and priests could all be adequately replaced by NPCs anyway.
“Follow close, my disciples!”
“Hm?”
He snapped back to reality to find they’d already passed through the castle gates.
“Whoa…!”
The users charged forward at a frightening speed.
Mu-hyuk belatedly accelerated to catch up with Valsian.
Thanks to his high level, Mu-hyuk’s warhorse was markedly faster than the others’.
“Ho, pretty fast, huh?”
“Well, a little faster.”
“Kekeke, try this!”
Valsian sped up even more.
“Ah, Master…”
“What?”
“The others can’t keep up.”
“Argh, so damn slow.”
Valsian finally reined in his excitement and slowed down.
At the same time.
Dark—the user who had held the number one spot from the very start and still did—finally arrived at the workshop of Jiryang, the blacksmith player.
“You’re here.”
“Yes.”
He’d reserved right when the enhancement system opened, but it had still taken quite a while.
Now, though, once he got enhanced, his boosted damage output would enable lightning-fast hunting.
As a Holy Knight, he’d always been bothered by his weak damage due to all the support skills, but today that issue would vanish. A smile crept onto his face naturally.
“Materials, enhancement fees—no matter the cost, push it to the absolute max possible.”
Jiryang smiled softly.
“Don’t worry. Early reservations actually saw a lot of failures because I was still inexperienced. My level’s up by one now, so it’s way more stable.”
“Good.”
“Then let’s begin. What first?”
Dark handed over his items.
Sword, shield, armor, pants, shoes, helmet.
“Accessories still no?”
“Not yet.”
“Then just these six for now.”
“Got it.”
Jiryang first inspected the sword’s performance.
Frenzy
Consumes remaining HP to temporarily and massively boost all abilities.
The more HP consumed, the greater the boost.
Usable once every 48 hours, lasts 30 minutes. After, unable to act for 5 seconds.
For an instant, Jiryang’s pupils trembled.
As expected of rank one.
This level of options was something even Jiryang hadn’t seen before.
“Nice sword.”
Dark nodded at Jiryang’s words.
“Let’s start right away.”
As he spoke, he gripped the handle of the hammer standing by the workbench.
Enhancement.
Select Frenzy Longsword.
Enhancement begins.
The Frenzy Longsword turned pure white, red dots appearing across the blade.
Staring at those dots, he raised the hammer high and brought it down with all his might.
Claaang!
The enhancement progress rose.
Clang!
He had to swing the hammer to hit the red dots precisely. Hitting the pure white parts by mistake would lower the progress and raise the failure chance.
Of course, this being the first enhancement, the red dots were fairly large and few in number—easy to hit.
Enhancement Progress: 56%
It didn’t take long.
Enhancement Progress: 98%
Enhancement Progress: 99%
Enhancement Progress reaches 100%.
Perfect work with zero mistakes.
Enhancement success probability: 99.9%
At that moment, an explosive light burst from the sword. It soon absorbed back in, and Jiryang checked the weapon’s status with a slightly tense expression.
The success rate was sky-high, but if luck was truly rotten, that 0.1% could still bite.
Physical Attack Power 180 +18
Magic Attack Power 200 +20
All Stats (2) Increase
Additional…
Fortunately, it succeeded.
“+1 success.”
“Ooh…!”
“Take a look.”
Dark hurriedly checked the status and inwardly cheered at the 10% damage boost.
“Quick, keep going.”
“Got it.”
Jiryang continued the work.
Luckily, +2 succeeded too.
Physical attack now 180 +38 additional, magic 200 +44.
“Compounding increase, huh?”
“Yes, up to +4.”
“Meaning…?”
“From +5, it jumps even bigger.”
Dark’s eyes gleamed.
Even just +5 would…!
He suddenly wondered how far other users had gone.
“Most go to how many?”
“Most stop at +4.”
“+4…?”
“Risk jumps after. Up to +4, failure keeps progress, but from +5 attempt, failure drops a level. Probability tanks too.”
“Hmm, got it.”
“Still, big attack boosts tempt many to try +5 or higher. Some even hit +6.”
“Whoa.”
Material costs for even +1 were no joke.
About 100,000 won in cash equivalent, and mandatory even on failure.
Success meant extra payment, so +6 on one item would cost a fortune.
Tough choice.
For now, safe +4 on everything.
“All to +4 first.”
“Got it.”
Jiryang worked on, Dark waiting quietly.
About 30 minutes later.
“All at +4 complete.”
“Hmm.”
“More?”
“Let me check first.”
Dark inspected each item.
“Hiss…!”
He’d expected it, but seeing it real filled him with indescribable joy.
But joy was fleeting—greed soon reared its head.
The devil’s whisper tickled his ear.
Try more.
You’ll succeed.
You can do it.
Thinking of the few users nipping at his heels, he gritted his teeth.
“Weapon more, at least.”
“Got it.”
Jiryang dove back in, swinging focused.
Clang! Clang!
Work done, he shook his head with a sigh.
“Failed.”
“Then…”
“Dropped to +3.”
Dark’s face twisted.
“Try +4 again?”
“Of course.”
“Remaking from +4 then.”
Bad luck—failed again.
Third try finally hit +4.
“+5?”
“Might as well.”
“Got it.”
Jiryang continued.
Fail, success, fail, success.
The endless loop frayed his nerves.
Then.
Fwaaah!
A light stronger than any before enveloped the weapon.
“Phew, success.”
“Finally…!”
Dark eagerly checked the sword.
Physical Attack Power 180 +122
Magic Attack Power 200 +141
All Stats (2) Increase
Additional…
Physical up by 122, magic by 141.
Nearly 70% of base attack added.
If +7…?
His imagination soared—hunting twice as fast.
One more time?
After all those fails, odds good now.
Greed blinded him.
After long deliberation, he decided.
*
Meanwhile, Mu-hyuk still en route to the dungeon.
Some viewers voiced boredom.
Quite a few viewers switched streams.
A good while passed.
Valsian stopped advancing.
Ordinary ground.
He stomped hard, a hole opening to reveal descending stairs.