Gear Up for the Assault
Mu-hyuk decided to take a break in the small city of Rubuhana for now.
They were waiting for reinforcements anyway.
With time to kill until then, he needed something to occupy himself.
Time to do some reinforcing.
The moment he pulled the hammer from his inventory.
"Big brooo!"
The Bullbear player rushed over to Mu-hyuk.
"Yeah...?"
"Haha, speak casually!"
"This is casual for me."
"Aigoo, big bro...! If that's how it is, I'll work extra hard to make you even more comfortable!"
Mu-hyuk chuckled softly.
"It's fine."
"I'm the one who's fine, big bro!"
"Keep that up and I won't reinforce it."
"Huh? Th-then..."
"Sigh, same rate as Gepen."
"Thank you! Thank you!"
There was no reason to turn down easy gold.
Besides, he had the time.
"Alright, let's draw up the contract and hand over the weapon."
"Got it!"
They handled the formalities swiftly, and he set the received weapon down.
Clang!
He swung the hammer to begin the reinforcement process. Of course, he didn't pour all his time into it. He took ample breaks in between and even whipped up some tasty food with Yerin.
He also got a firm confirmation from the mage on when the follow-up troops would arrive. He considered squeezing in a use of Albetar's Talent, but decided to hold off for now.
Opportunities like that were limited.
It was something he needed to mull over carefully.
Alright, back to it.
With that, he resumed reinforcing Bullbear's weapon.
Clang, clang!
Aiming for a minimum of +9 and maximum of +10 meant it ate up a good chunk of time.
In the end, he only finished when the follow-up soldiers arrived in Rubuhana.
"Whew, +9 it is."
"Thank you!"
The Bullbear player hurriedly checked the weapon.
◈ Physical Attack: 260+119
◈ All Stats + (10+40)
◈ Strength + (30+120)
◈ Stamina + (30+120)
◈ Agility + (30+120)
◈ Additional Attack +50+200
◈ Low chance to stun target for 1 second
The attack power was definitely on the low side, but the rest of the options were way beyond normal limits.
All stats +50.
Strength, agility, and stamina each boosted by 150.
"Th-thank you...!"
"No big deal."
"Here's 50,000 gold."
The eyes of the other players watching nearby burned with desire. They probably wanted Mu-hyuk to reinforce their gear too.
But that was as far as it went.
Now it was time for him to reinforce the items he himself wore.
Time to spec up my own gear.
Of course, not here.
It was time to move out.
"Baron Mu-hyuk."
"Ah, yeah."
"We need to depart now."
"Right, Min-woo."
"Yeah."
"Logged-out users?"
"I'll go send them texts and come back."
Sung Min-woo logged out, then reconnected shortly after.
"They'll all log in soon."
"Thanks."
He turned to look at the mage.
The one casting amplification magic.
"Alright, everyone gather up! We're heading to the next destination!"
Players popped out from all directions.
Some were just logging in now.
After giving them plenty of time.
"Taking roll call."
He used the mage's magic to check numbers.
"How's it look?"
"Headcount's exact."
"Good. Everyone's here—let's move out."
Up ahead lay two small villages.
Pass those, and you'd hit the Byuzaken Kingdom—one of the larger ones on the Kairon continent.
Currently, three groups were closing in on it from other directions to strike.
Two groups made up of Duke Amur's legion and players. To avoid being late for their rendezvous, they needed to hurry.
"Picking up the pace."
Along the way, they spotted Kairon players hunting.
"What the? Forma continent players?"
"What do we do?"
"Too many—let's bail."
He ignored those who got out of the way.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing on our continent?!"
Those who stood their ground or picked fights.
Or tried to engage—he cut them down without a second's hesitation.
*
After perfectly occupying the two villages, the players logged out. Of course, that was thanks to the follow-up soldiers standing guard.
"See you tomorrow."
"Oppa, goodnight."
"Yeah."
Everyone except Mu-hyuk left the game.
Hmm, 10:30 a.m.
Time zones had flipped day and night.
Logging out now wouldn't let him sleep anyway.
Mu-hyuk stayed in.
Now for some quiet reinforcing.
He inspected his equipped gear. At this point, it wasn't exactly top-tier.
He stripped off everything except the essentials—like the Grokion set, black-and-white set items, and his sleeveless t-shirt.
He immediately opened the auction house system and browsed defensive gear worth wearing.
This has good main stats, but...
Sub-options are lacking.
Pass.
Mu-hyuk wanted to boost the sub-options.
Shock absorption would be ideal.
Like his current sleeveless shirt.
If I reinforce that...?
Shock absorption would go up.
Mu-hyuk would become even tougher.
All-stats boosts too.
Stat increases meant summon power increases.
Just thinking about it is insane.
He was freshly appreciating just how superior Artisan's Reinforcement was.
Oh, this looks good.
He bought items one by one.
Money wasn't an issue.
He had over 200,000 gold in inventory.
That's 2 billion won.
So non-reinforced items, no matter how good, were no burden.
After snagging a few with the best sub-options, he equipped them.
Now to reinforce.
He picked the sleeveless shirt first.
Currently +4.
Prioritizing deliberate failures to drop it to +0.
He'd used Artisan's Reinforcement before, but balanced main and sub-options half-and-half.
This time, full focus on subs.
Alright, let's do this.
He quickly dropped it to +0, then proceeded.
*
Sleeveless shirt hit +8.
◈ Defense + (15+9)
◈ Magic Defense + (20+12)
◈ Shock Absorption (8+26%)
◈ Stamina + (5+21)
◈ Durability 400/400
◈ Req: Strength 40, Agility 40, Stamina 70
◈ A guardian legend crafted clingy shirts from fine materials for his massive frame. Mostly failures, but this success was named Sleeveless.
The corner of Mu-hyuk's mouth curved up.
Shock absorption at 34%.
Main options like defense and magic defense were low, but it maxed out shock absorption and stamina.
Among under-armor shirts, nothing beat this.
Satisfying enough.
Equip sleeveless.
Something unexpected happened.
Shock absorption cannot exceed 90%.
No matter how much he boosted it, 90% was the cap.
Hmm, disappointing, but...
Without limits, hitting 100% would nullify all damage, so he accepted it easily.
90% was still huge.
Take 10,000 damage? Only 1,000 HP lost.
No—factoring defense...
Even less.
And another perk.
Hit 90% without a shield?
No need to block with it anymore. That alone would massively widen his maneuverability.
Next up, armor.
He unequipped Grokion's Armor and dropped it to +0.
Like the shirt, it balanced main and sub-options unsatisfactorily.
Artisan's Reinforcement.
Strike only the rising blue glows.
Clang, clang!
Time passed, and soon it was 1 a.m.
"Haa."
He stopped at +8, satisfied.
◈ Defense + (50+30)
◈ Magic Defense + (55+33)
◈ Wisdom + (8+32)
◈ MP Recovery + (65+221%)
◈ All Stats + (5+17)
◈ Shock Absorption (7+23%)
◈ Durability 550/550
◈ Req: Pass Grokion's Trial
Shock absorption at a whopping 30%.
With the shirt, total 64%.
But not done yet.
Mu-hyuk grinned and pulled out one purchased item: steel boots.
These had shock absorption too—reinforce them, and no more shield needed.
Of course, shield options still boosted specs, so he'd keep it on his back even if not using it.
Artisan's Reinforcement.
The moment he spotted the blue dot to strike, his arm went slack.
"Mm."
Exhaustion hitting hard.
Sleep first.
He logged out and crashed immediately.
8 p.m.
Mu-hyuk logged back in and reinforced the steel boots right away.
Reinforcement level rises.
Reinforcement: 100%
Title effect increases success rate.
Artisan's Reinforcement success!
Players logging in made it noisy, but he focused and kept going.
About an hour later, he set the hammer down.
Whew, tough.
Most players were online now.
No helping it.
He stopped at +7 and equipped the steel boots immediately.
◈ Defense + (50+30)
◈ Magic Defense + (60+36)
◈ Stamina + (15+45)
◈ Strength + (15+45)
◈ All Stats + (10+30)
◈ Additional Defense + (10+30)
◈ Additional Magic Defense + (15+45)
◈ Shock Absorption (5+20%)
Shock absorption now at 89%.
This'll do for now.
He'd grab a good bow and staff later, but daggers would be main for now—no rush.
"Whew, done."
"Oppa? What's done?"
"Oh, you're here?"
"Yeah! But what's done?"
"Uh, just finished reinforcing my defensive gear. All set now."
"Whoa, finally? You should've prioritized your own stuff ages ago."
"Y-yeah."
"Good thing you did it now at least."
"Haha..."
Mu-hyuk gave an awkward laugh at Yerin's words.
Right on cue, reinforcements in the form of Sung Min-woo arrived.
"Yo, whatcha doing?"
"Uh, reinforcing my gear..."
"Holy crap, you still hadn't? I figured you'd done yours first."
"Well..."
"You gotta spec up yourself first. That's basic, right?"
Turned out he wasn't reinforcements.
"From now on, prioritize your own gear..."
"Duh."
"Ahem."
Truth was, it was dumb.
He should've done this way earlier.
Instead of reinforcing sale items for gold, player gear, skeleton weapons and shields...
Boosting his own specs was most efficient.
A bit late, but...
Good he did it now.
"Why'd you wait so long?"
"Eh, just... damage output and survivability weren't lacking much."
"You forgot, huh?"
"Halfway, yeah..."
"Sigh."
After one more jab, Mu-hyuk hurried off to the mage like he was fleeing.
"I was just coming to find you."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes. For a direct talk."
The orb he held began to glow.
⊳ -Baron Mu-hyuk.
"Yes, Duke Amur."
Duke Amur continued with a grave expression.
⊳ -The time to strike the Byuzaken Kingdom has come.
Mu-hyuk smiled as he replied.
"I've been waiting."