Chapter 76: Religious Unification Through Enhancement
Sangjin shuffled over at Woojin’s words.
“...What are you talking about? You want to enhance Clacker?”
“Yeah. Look.”
Woojin lifted up Clacker, who had already been raised to +1.
Sangjin stared at it, looking utterly dumbfounded.
“...Why is that even possible...?”
“Hey, if you think about it, these things are basically inanimate objects. They’re no different from items.”
Sangjin looked at the skeleton soldier, Clacker, tucked in Woojin’s arms.
As if it understood what Woojin was saying, Clacker clicked its jaw and nodded.
Clack—clack—
“Well, it’s bones, so I guess it is inanimate... But it’s also alive... and dead, too.”
Woojin grinned.
“Undead and dolls are classic examples of ‘moving inanimate objects’ even within the Unreal World game system. So my enhancement works on them, too. Turns out this one does, anyway.”
Then Woojin lifted up Hyangrang as well.
It was an absurdly cute, strangely charming sight, with a goblin doll and a skeleton doll both cradled in his arms.
Sangjin’s eyes widened.
“That’s insane. So instead of fighting himself, he could just build something like a doll army and send it out?”
“Maybe, but where am I supposed to get a whole bunch of dolls like this? Right now, Hyangrang is the only one Himari gave me, so that’s something to think about later. Either way, isn’t the fact that I can enhance your Clacker a massive advantage?”
“Yeah, that much is true. If my undead army all got enhanced... man, just imagining it gives me chills.”
Woojin frowned as he ran his fingers over Clacker’s smooth skull.
“But you’ve leveled up plenty by now, and your skill proficiency should be pretty high. So why does Clacker always look like this basic, vacant little skeleton? Normally, when a necromancer levels up, their summons get ornamentation and start looking a lot fancier, don’t they?”
Sangjin scratched the back of his head and gave a bitter smile.
“Ah, that. It’s because my skeleton soldier skill is a little unusual. Didn’t I tell you?”
“How would I know when you’re always hiding things.”
Sangjin grew serious and placed a hand on Clacker’s shoulder.
“My corpse-raising skill is split into two kinds. One is the ordinary kind of necromancy. That one resurrects a corpse as it was before death, along with its traits. That’s the usual thing people think of when they hear necromancer. But the other one is this skeleton minion skill. It pulls out a dedicated subordinate from inside the corpse and binds it directly to me.”
“So Clacker is one of those skeleton minions?”
“Right. But the really weird thing is that even if I dismiss it and summon it again later, it keeps all its previous memories. Normal summons reset when you call them back, right? But not this guy. He even remembers clearly that his name is Clacker.”
“Really...?”
Woojin was seriously shocked.
Even in the Unreal World, undead that retained self-awareness and carried memories forward were extremely rare.
“Yeah. We’re mentally linked, so I can feel it. Right now, he’s super excited because he knows his master’s going to enhance him.”
Woojin’s eyes gleamed.
If the undead could inherit memories and experience, the value of enhancement would be beyond imagination.
“Hold on... so does he inherit experience, too? Can he keep leveling up?”
“Yeah. Even if I dismiss him and summon him again, he comes back at the same level.”
“So that’s how it is...?”
Woojin was getting a little fired up now.
“All right, let’s start with Clacker.”
He immediately set Clacker down in front of him.
“Come on, Clacker. You’re getting stronger, so pray too.”
At that, Clacker brought its little finger bones together and began to pray.
An undead praying to a god.
Prayer meta really didn’t discriminate by race.
Enhance!
Enhancement succeeded!
The target's grade rises: Normal → Rare
“What the hell is this?”
At Woojin’s shout, Sangjin checked the status window.
Clacker’s bones were no longer plain white. A faint silver metallic sheen had begun to ripple across them.
The density of the bones had clearly become much greater.
“No way... grade up?”
“That’s crazy...?”
That changed everything.
He had only intended to do safe enhancements, but if the grade could rise as well, then there was plenty of reason to aim higher.
But Woojin’s worries surfaced immediately.
“Damn it... what if it blows up while I’m enhancing it? Does it turn to dust like an item and vanish? Then I’d never be able to see it again, would I?”
Sangjin picked his nose as though it was no big deal.
“Who cares? I was curious, so I killed him once. He still came back exactly the same.”
Woojin looked completely flabbergasted.
“...Fuck, undead are broken as hell. So I can just go wild without worrying about Erosion or explosions?”
“Let’s do it! Clacker Death Knight, let’s go!!”
Woojin threw caution away.
He poured out raw mana, driving hard toward +4 and +5.
Crack—!
Enhancement failed!
The catastrophic failure destroyed the target.
Midway through the attempt at +5, Clacker shattered apart, sending out a plume of black smoke.
The enhancement had failed.
“...Hey, it actually blew up....”
As Woojin stared in alarm and brushed away the dust, Sangjin opened a large bag from his arms.
“Wait. We can just summon it again.”
He went to the corner and pulled out a set of bones that looked impressive even at a glance.
They were premium, top-grade Hanwoo soup bones.
“You carry soup bones around?”
“Yeah. My little sister-in-law packed them for me. She said they’re the most expensive, top-grade Hanwoo bones in Korea. Apparently, if you summon with these, you get a tougher one or something.”
“...Yeah, I can believe that the best soup bones would make it stronger.”
Sangjin offered up the soup bones as a sacrifice and summoned Clacker again.
Clack—!
Then Clacker, who had just exploded a moment ago, reappeared as if nothing had happened, jaw clicking away happily.
The enhancement value had dropped, but the body itself was perfectly fine.
Enhance, explode, resummon. Enhance again, explode again, resummon again.
An unprecedented history of infinite enhancement had begun. And at last—
Enhancement succeeded!
The target's grade rises: Rare → Unique
“!!! Hey!! He became Unique! A skeleton soldier with a Unique grade!”
“...This enhancement thing is seriously absurd. What the hell.”
If Rare came at +3 and Unique at +6, then Heroic had to come at +9, Legendary at +12, and Mythic at +15.
“W-wait, hyung! If Clacker hits +15 and becomes Mythic, what does that even make him?”
“How should I know? But realistically, anything past +9 is hard as hell. You need absurd luck for it.”
“Right, then let’s just aim for +9.”
After a brief agreement, the two of them decided to stop at +9.
And after just how much more soup bone had been spent—
“Hyung, the bones are gone now...”
“Then that means it’s time to succeed!!”
That was the unwritten law of enhancement.
When you used the very last material, the success rate mysteriously went up.
And sure enough—
Enhancement succeeded!
The target's grade rises: Unique → Heroic
“It’s done!! It’s done!!”
“Hey, hey!! Check the status window, quick!!”
Woojin and Sangjin stared at Clacker’s status window, their faces bright with anticipation.
Name: Clacker (+9) Lv. 11
Class: Bone-White Attendant (Heroic / Growth Type)
Skills:
1. White Bones Never Forget (Lv. 10): As its master's mana and level increase, all of Clacker's stats rise in direct proportion.
2. White Bone Guardian (Lv. 7): Absorbs 70% of the damage meant for its master and casts a bone veil over nearby allies.
3. White Bone Knight (Lv. 4): Generates a sword and shield made of bone, and possesses swordsmanship skills.
4. White Bone Immortality (Lv. 1): Upon destruction, it immediately revives with 10% HP (1-hour cooldown).
Woojin and Sangjin both fell silent after checking Clacker’s skill window.
“W-what the hell... what are these insane skills? White Bones Never Forget, Guardian, Knight... and now immortality? Does this guy even die?”
Overcome with emotion, Sangjin scooped Clacker into his arms.
Clacker stood there proudly, its blue glow blazing with the unmistakable aura of a Heroic-grade summon.
Its bones, too, shimmered with a muted black sheen, like mithril.
“Hyung! This is huge! Absolutely huge!! Hahahahaha!”
“Nice. You don’t need to look for a separate tank anymore, huh.”
With a single enhancement from Woojin, Sangjin’s chronic problem of lacking a frontliner had been solved.
Woojin smiled with satisfaction, then shifted his gaze to his next target: the goblin doll, Hyangrang.
“Hmm... what should I do with this one...”
“You’re going to enhance that, too?”
“Yeah. Sink or swim, I’ve got to try.”
Clacker could be resummoned, but Hyangrang was different.
It was a one-of-a-kind doll, carved thread by thread by Himari noona.
If it blew up, that would be the end of it.
But Woojin found the decisive hint in Hyangrang’s skill window.
Held Skill:Will-o'-the-Wisp
Description: While it exists as Will-o'-the-Wisp, it ignores all negative effects. In that state, it cannot attack, move, or perform any other action.
‘This... looks like it would ignore Erosion or destruction, too...’
Enhancement succeeded!
Three enhancements came almost instantly.
Hyangrang, too, was promoted to Unique the moment it hit +3.
“That’s insane. So this thing also ranks up every three enhancement levels? Wait... then what happens at +15?”
Hyangrang had started at Rare, which meant that even +12 would take it to Mythic.
What he was really curious about was what could possibly happen at +15.
‘Well, it’d be pretty stupid to worry about something that probably won’t even happen.’
Woojin brushed aside the thought and started enhancing again.
He decided to gamble on it.
“All right, if it breaks, it breaks! Hey, Hyangrang. Turn into Will-o'-the-Wisp! If you shatter, I’ll have Himari noona fix you!”
“Kwoaak!!”
Hyangrang let out a sharp cry and instantly turned into a cluster of blue flames.
The doll’s outline vanished inside the blazing fire, but its presence remained vivid all the same.
Woojin reached out with trembling fingers and placed his hand over the flames.
And then, at last, came the cursed +4 stage.
Woojin swallowed hard and attempted the enhancement.
Enhancement failed!
The Erosion curse has manifested!
The enhancement stage drops by 1.
Due to the target's Status Ailment Immunity skill, the negative effect Erosion was nullified.
“It worked!! Fuck, it works!!”
Woojin cheered.
The drop in enhancement value from failure couldn’t be helped, but the truly catastrophic effect of Erosion—the kind that destroyed items or permanently ruined them—was being completely blocked by the Will-o'-the-Wisp skill.
In other words, as long as he had time and mana, Hyangrang could absolutely be pushed to +9, even +12.
“Hey, isn’t this basically a bug? Is the system really allowed to work like this?”
“Hyung, in games, the guys who use tricks like this are always the strongest! Keep going!”
Woojin got excited and kept attempting enhancement after enhancement.
If it failed, he tried again. If it failed again, he tried again.
Hyangrang endured Woojin’s enhancements silently while wrapped in its Will-o'-the-Wisp state.
Five, six, seven... and when it finally reached +9, Woojin actually started bowing.
“Hey, Hyangrang. You’re Buddhist too, right? Bow. Bow.”
Then Hyangrang turned back into a doll and began bowing as well.
Sangjin burst out laughing at the ridiculous sight.
“Now that’s prayer, bowing, and religious unification all at once. But what the hell are you doing? You said you were only going to stop at +9, and it’s already Legendary grade?”
“Hey, no stops, no brakes. Seven, eight, nine—that’s a straight run. If I don’t go for +10, I’m an idiot. Enhancement is all about momentum.”
“Why does your logic keep changing? Aren’t you supposed to pour out some water or something? You did that last time.”
“You already sacrificed plenty of soup bones, didn’t you?”
That sent Sangjin into a fit of laughter.
“Kekekekekekeke. That’s one expensive sacrifice.”
Woojin laughed too as he gathered his mana.
“All right, here we go! Hyangrang! Will-o'-the-Wisp!! Let’s go to +10!!”
“Kwoang! Kwoaak!”
Golden mana blazed from Woojin’s hands more fiercely than ever before.
It’s done! This time, it’s definitely done!
And then—
Enhancement succeeded!
The target's grade rises: Legendary → Mythic
Woojin leaped into the air at the sight.
“!!! It, it worked!! Mythic came out!! Hahahahahaha!!! This is the power of a No. 9 premium Hanwoo bone sacrifice!!”
Whether that was actually true or not, nobody could have said for sure.