Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Second Skill
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Woojin made it a daily habit to drop by Jaya's YouTube channel and at least bump up the view count once.
Those were the only two comments on Jaya's video.
But today, a malicious one had been added.
This wasn't hate aimed at Jaya—it was targeted at Woosang Shop.
No idea how they stumbled on the video, but since you had to buy something to leave reviews on the shopping site, they'd dumped their bile here on YouTube instead.
The hate didn't stop at one.
It was Saturday, so Sangjin was home too. Woojin showed him the comments.
"Hey, Sangjin. Check this out."
Sangjin glanced at the phone Woojin held out.
"What? What now?"
"You remember Jaya, right? The foreigner who sent us that purchase review video."
Sangjin remembered, of course. He hadn't said anything, but he'd been monitoring it regularly.
"Yeah, what about him?"
"Look at this."
Sangjin skimmed the screen Woojin shoved in his face. He shrugged it off casually.
"Malicious comments, huh?"
"They're talking crap about us. We just gonna sit here?"
Sangjin replied leisurely to Woojin's outburst.
"You're worrying over nothing. Any truth to a single word in there?"
"Nope."
"Then what's the problem? Quit yapping and finish packing those. It's almost noon. Delivery pickup's gonna be here soon."
At Sangjin's words, Woojin decided to prioritize packaging.
Ever since his Unriworld days, 'meeting delivery deadlines' was ingrained in him. No way he'd tolerate slacking off in the real world either.
Plus, having started work young, he'd learned the hard way just how crucial deadlines were.
A moment later.
After handing off the packages to the courier at the door, Woojin tossed out casually,
"Hey, we really leaving those comments up?"
"What do you wanna do about it?"
Woojin clenched his fist and declared to Sangjin,
"Obviously, we gotta prove Jaya didn't fake it!"
Sangjin chuckled at Woojin's words.
"How?"
"That's for you to figure out."
"..."
Sangjin let out a short sigh.
"Best move is to do nothing. It'll sort itself out, so don't sweat it. If it doesn't, I'll handle it. You hit today's quota? Time to crank out more products, boss."
Solid advice from his reliable little brother, but Woojin still didn't like sitting idle.
"Tch, heartless punk. Someone poured their soul into hyping our product, and..."
"Just chill for now. I said I'd deal with it if they cross the line."
Woojin felt a pang of regret but followed his brother's lead.
"Fine, gotta listen to the smart one."
He sat down and started infusing mana into the chopsticks.
He was in the middle of enhancing a few when.
The cheerful system alert rang out—Woojin's level had gone up.
"Whoa!? Level up?"
Sangjin reacted to the sound too.
"No way, for real?"
Woojin, fresh off the level up, pulled up his status window.
Back in Unriworld, he'd check it constantly, but in reality, he rarely bothered.
"Status window."
He murmured quietly, and the info materialized before his eyes.
'Huh? Enhancement's already Lv.3?'
It felt like skill levels were rising way faster than in Unriworld.
Well, he'd been spamming the skill nonstop, so maybe it made sense.
In Unriworld, he mostly enhanced items, which guzzled way more mana than these chopsticks.
Chopsticks meant 20-30 a day; a longsword would've been half that at best.
Even Jihyun's legendary dagger had only taken a Lv.3 enhance, and it hadn't drained his mana fully that day.
Something clicked in Woojin's mind.
'Right! At skill Lv.3, you unlock an extra ability.'
Skills maxed at Lv.10, unlocking extras at 3, 6, 9, and 10.
Take the basic 'Fireball' spell:
Lv.3: 'Split'—fire multiple projectiles.
Lv.6: 'Homing'—tracks enemies.
Lv.9: 'Ember'—guaranteed burn status.
Lv.10: 'Powerful'—boosted damage.
The grind was brutal, but hit Lv.10 and it rivaled top-tier skills.
Woojin's heart raced.
His Enhancement skill in Unriworld hadn't gone that high.
Weapon, armor, and accessory enhancements were separate skills.
Highest was Weapon Enhancement at Lv.8; armor and accessories at Lv.7.
Woojin opened the detailed view for Enhancement.
Enhancement Lv.3
Use mana to enhance objects or tools. Higher levels boost success rate and quantity. Enhanced stats scale with the base item's properties.
Unlocked Ability
1. Reverse Enhancement: Reduces enhancement level by 1 guaranteed.
"!!!"
'It unlocked as an option skill?'
Seemed like a downgrade at first glance, but in the right hands, it was insanely useful.
That was in the game world, though. Here in reality, it might be worthless.
"What, bro? Staring into space?"
"Oh, Enhancement got an extra ability."
"Nice? What is it?"
"Reverse Enhancement. Drops the enhancement level by one for sure."
Sangjin pondered briefly, then nodded.
"Sounds useful."
"You think? Doesn't seem like much call for it."
"Nah. Means you can control enhancements precisely. What if that Lv.9 showerhead ends up with someone else and causes trouble?"
"...Point."
"See? That Lv.9 showerhead's sturdy as hell thanks to the enhance. With Reverse, no worries about accidents."
Woojin nodded at Sangjin's logic.
"You're right."
While they were on the topic, Woojin brought up one more thing.
"Hey, on top of that, I unlocked 'Imbue' from the level up."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, but it needs magic or attribute materials. Can we snag any magic items or attribute stuff from gates?"
Sangjin shook his head at Woojin's question.
"How? Gate-sourced mana items cost a fortune... Millions each at least."
"M-Millions? Ugh, guess Imbue's on ice till we make bank. Sealed for now."
Then a thought struck Sangjin.
"Hold up... Does it have to be magic or attribute materials? You read the description right?"
Imbue Lv.1
Imbue mana-infused objects or tools with the caster's magic or the material's magical properties. Materials are consumed regardless of success.
Woojin read the hovering details aloud to his brother.
"I can't cast spells, so need materials with magical abilities. But those are pricey. Useless till we get cash. Maybe hit up Jihyun for some."
"Wait, why can't you cast magic?"
"Huh? I can't do magic. No fireballs from my hands."
"Not that. Enhancement. Isn't that magic?"
"This isn't magic... It's just..."
"Just what? Looks like magic to me. You said the showerhead's skill was magic too."
Woojin froze at Sangjin's unexpected point.
"W-Wait... You mean...?"
Woojin grabbed his jacket and bolted out.
"Be right back!!"
Sangjin figured his brother had an epiphany.
Wonder what crazy thing he'd bring back to blow his mind this time.
"Take your time."
A bit later.
Woojin returned, arms full of stuff.
"...What? All this?"
"Raided CYSO. Gonna test Imbue."
Woojin had shopped for Imbue experiments.
"Only grabbed stuff with skills. Not a ton."
"Some without?"
"Yeah, ambiguous-use items. Like stuffed dolls."
Sangjin got it at Woojin's example.
"Ah, yeah."
Dolls could be toys, decor, or stress balls depending who you ask.
Items without clear function or purpose didn't get skills.
Woojin spread out his haul.
He picked up a kitchen knife and tried Imbue.
Woojin registered his Enhancement ability as the material.
Mana drained slightly, and it registered.
"It works! Registered as material!"
He executed Imbue.
But a regrettable message appeared.
Imbue failed.
"What? Why'd it fail?"
"What happened?"
Woojin explained to Sangjin.
"'Mana-infused object' tripped it up? That knife ain't mana-infused."
"Oh, right. Then..."
Woojin channeled mana into the kitchen knife.
Lv.+2 now. He tried Imbue again.
Failed again.
But the message differed slightly.
Cannot imbue skill of this category onto the item.
'Category mismatch?'
"Ugh... This skill's a pain..."
"Now what's the issue?"
"Says category doesn't match."
Sangjin shrugged this time too.
"No clue. Game's user-unfriendly as hell."
Unriworld wasn't hand-holding. Discovering new mechanics was on the players—that was the dev's philosophy.
Then.
"Wait!"
Woojin rummaged through his purchases.
"Hit on something?"
"Yeah. If this flops, I give up."
What he pulled out was just a plain stone.
Not even from CYSO—a roadside pebble.
"What's that? A rock?"
Woojin nodded.
"Yup, just a rock."
Sangjin looked puzzled.
"Rocks have skills?"
"Yeah."
"What?"
"Hardness."
Sangjin stared blankly.
"...???"
Woojin explained.
"What pops into your head first for 'hard'?"
Sangjin finally got it.
"Symbolism...!"
"Exactly. Skills attach to symbolic items too."
Woojin enhanced the pebble.
Hardness rose to Lv.2.
Tense, he attempted Imbue.
"Imbue!"
That instant.
Fwaah—
A glow distinct from enhancement absorbed into the stone, and a system message popped up.
"Yes! Success!"
Sangjin jumped too.
"For real!?"
"Totally!"
Woojin checked the pebble's info.
And muttered softly.
"No way...?"
What Woojin had created.
Was the 'Enhancement Stone'—something even Unriworld's alchemy towers could barely produce.