Chapter 202
Chapter 202
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 202
>Chapter Title: The Fastest Way to Get Strong in the Empire
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Chapter 202
>202.
>- The fastest way to get strong in the Empire? Oh, that's obviously... Wait, before max level? Then it's reinforcement, no question.
One of the things Fried, ranked 1,279 in the God Ose rankings, said in an interview.
He picked reinforcement over every other path for two reasons.
First, unlike other routes that often lacked fairness, it offered an equal opportunity to everyone who entered the Empire—a true growth path.
Second...
- Do I even need to explain this? Everyone knows the difference between reinforced gear and unreinforced gear is like night and day.
It was an overwhelming difference in stats.
You could feel the gap even with a single reinforcement, but at +10?
- It's almost double. It's like a whole grade higher. And from +11, the options get reinforced too, so just treat it like a different weapon...
He went on explaining reinforcement's broken nature, but it boiled down to this:
Up to +10, it boosted raw stats like attack or defense power.
After that, it enhanced the options on top of everything else.
'Purple Bro skipping straight to +15 is still legendary.'
Of course, since it was right before service end, only Brain Emperor, his party, and a few high rankers knew about it.
The power of that +15 had been beyond imagination.
It was already endgame-tier gear back then, and with options maxed out at +15...
'No wonder he reigned as the king of one-shot damage.'
With specs like that, he could cover any lack in control with room to spare.
That's why Do-hyun, who knew reinforcement's importance better than anyone, shoved him toward the reinforcement shop.
That's when he was about to check out the reinforcement shop after so long.
"Shit!! I never should've trusted that dog Harrison with my reinforcement!!"
Before he could, a man's rage-filled bellow suddenly echoed out.
'Whoa, scared me. What, what's that?'
'Not just him, huh.'
'Lizard?'
As Charlie said, the outburst wasn't unique to that guy.
Reinforcement Alley.
This place was always full of screams and fury.
"Hey, calm down. If you make too much noise, the guards will drag you off."
"Ha, but that dog Harrison's hands keep slipping! Did he slather them in oil or what? Tell him to go open a massage parlor!"
"You got screwed by that devil too...? Should've gone to High Hand in the next alley over."
"Uwaaaagh!! Damn reinforcement! Spit out my ten million won!"
"Oh? Ooooh!!? It worked! It worked! Uwaaaah! God, Buddha, I'm atheist but thank you!!"
Most had bloodshot eyes gleaming with murderous intent, while joyful shouts were as rare as beans in a drought.
Some even pounded the ground, weeping over shattered gear like the world had ended.
Zihard panicked at the salty sight and nudged Do-hyun.
'Whoa, that guy's crying, Master. Hey, you crying?'
'Just daily life.'
'Hmm. Reminds me of that old subordinate knight who went to Reinforcement Alley. Poor guy cried after failing +7. With your skills, Master, you could definitely hit +10 or higher.'
'...No. Even I'm not confident here.'
Do-hyun averted his gaze at Charlie's words.
The reinforcement shop was the place he hated most—and lacked confidence in.
Most of the "godly screams" his comrades teased him about came from gear exploding during reinforcement.
'My best was +9, I think.'
Even that took hundreds of destructions, and only on one weapon.
The rest topped out at +7.
Failures up to +7 just downgraded the reinforcement—no destruction.
If destruction started at +5, Do-hyun never would've even touched +9.
'I won't even aim for +9. Just +7 without major disasters, please.'
Suppressing the dizziness at the thought of repeating the process, Do-hyun looked around.
'...Who should I go with? Hmm, skip that Harrison guy for now.'
He was scouting an NPC reinforcement master to decide his fate.
After looking around for a while.
'That one looks good.'
Spotting a decent NPC, Do-hyun spoke up.
"Reinforce this, please."
"Hmm? New face. So, you're entrusting me with reinforcement?"
"Yes."
"Excellent choice. I'm an absolute expert at this. Heh heh. Place your gear here."
As they talked, Zihard whispered cautiously.
'...You're not doing it yourself?'
"Nope."
'Re... ally?'
Zihard's double-take seemed to question if that was wise.
And understandably so...
"Oops, hand slipped."
"No, why'd it slip there of all places! I saw you drop it on purpose."
"Truly a mistake. Don't despair. This time, I really feel it. For real."
"Look at that guy's eyes. He's lost it."
"Aw, fuck. Production class or not, self-reinforce for your sanity? I'll just buy more stones."
Just look at what was happening right next door.
Every head turn brought dozens of curses at the reinforcement masters. Was this right?
Their eyes looked off—like they were addicted to something.
But Do-hyun replied calmly.
"Doesn't matter."
-Why?
"Even those crazy-eyed masters aren't as bad as me. Think I'd fail +5 ten times in a row?"
-...
Hand slips? Rigged fails?
Who cares.
They were nothing compared to Do-hyun's cursed, god-hated hands in reinforcement!
-Uh... fighting!
-Liz, Lizard!
"Oh yeah, some poor guy couldn't even hit +7?"
-...Ahem. Must've misheard. True growth comes from one's own power. Splendid choice, Master.
Do-hyun sighed at their instant buy-in and placed his weapon.
Truth be told, he had no choice.
Unless you were a blacksmith production class, NPCs gave way higher success rates—that was common knowledge.
[Reinforcement Master NPC Kilhi designates Thousand Changes as the target.]
[Not exceptional, but a fairly skilled expert's touch raises success rate.]
[High gear grade requires more materials.]
[Consumes 5 Reinforcement Stones, 398 Gold.]
[Success rate: 80%, Destruction rate: 0%.]
An expert's boost wasn't negligible.
That's why they cursed NPCs like they wanted to devour them—yet kept handing over gear.
'If I really hate it, I could beg the artisans... but...'
Too expensive, and hard to book.
"Let's begin, then."
[Reinforcement Master NPC Kilhi starts reinforcing Thousand Changes.]
[Success if hammer strikes the hit point after melting stones in the forge; failure on vital point. Hit and vital points are random, depending on the master's senses and skill.]
The "warrior's grave" known as reinforcement had begun.
Everything hinged on hit and vital points—master skill was paramount.
Kaaang-! Kkaang!
"Hmm, one more like this should do it."
He watched the first one without much tension.
Ting- Whoooong-!
"W-Wait a sec!"
"Hmm? What's wrong?"
With the cheerful alert, something caught Do-hyun's eye, and he yelled urgently.
Kilhi, eyes wide in disbelief, tried to stop in panic—but too late.
Gravity accelerated the hammer down.
Kaaang-!
The hammer met Thousand Changes.
[Congratulations. Reinforcement successful.]
[+1 Thousand Changes completed.]
"Startled you, but as expected of my skill—flawlessly done. Continue?"
"Wait. Not the time."
Cheerful alert, successful reinforcement—yet Do-hyun's face stayed frozen.
He'd seen something unbelievable.
'This can't be... Hmm?'
Then.
Murmur murmur-
Before he could think, the area grew noisy.
One person's arrival.
"Whoa, it's Leon."
"Leon? The one who just became a reinforcement artisan?"
"What? Leon's here? Not now!"
"Where, where?"
Do-hyun paused his own reinforcement and looked.
A young man in his late 20s stood confidently amid the attention.
Recently famous among production classes: Artisan Leon.
'The first artisan in his 20s.'
A supernova acknowledged by the Empire's top blacksmith NPCs, a user with historic talent.
Especially praised for reinforcement mastery, granted the artisan title.
Hero Guild's sole artisan, backed heavily by Berge.
"Top 10 Guilds were eyeing him too? Heard Berge begged three times to snag him."
"Jealous... Execution Guild won't even glance no matter how much we beg."
"Then switch to production. Combat classes are hopeless now anyway."
"That's... who has time for that grind?"
Do-hyun nodded at the users' chatter.
'Surprising? Running into such a rare artisan here.'
Combat had rankers; production had artisans.
A rank earned after ages of toil, passing exams from artisan-grade blacksmith NPCs.
Achieving it granted overwhelming buffs in one crafting field, like weapon-making or reinforcement.
'I finally broke +10 thanks to Purple Bro.'
Purple Bro had insisted during Delock it was mandatory, picked up blacksmithing, grinded forever, and became that elusive artisan.
Do-hyun could finally ditch reinforcement nightmares by handing it off.
What a tenacious guy.
Watching him, you'd go, 'He's grinding THAT too?' and be floored.
Not for nothing called the incarnation of grind.
'Doesn't seem to grind here... or does he? If artisans got wiped like in Delock, he'd probably grind himself.'
...That guy was capable of it.
Artisans were often prideful, not bending easily to money.
Babylon's might differ, but even Purple Bro couldn't cancel schedules—probably same as others.
"Heard he left for the New Continent—why's he still in the Empire?"
"Something in the works lately. Doing one last title challenge before leaving?"
"Awesome... Think he'd reinforce for us?"
"Yeah right. Famous for his shitty personality. Lucky if he doesn't curse you out."
"Young successes always rub people wrong."
Naturally, artisans tended toward cranky and rude.
Especially a young success like Leon.
"Um... Mr. Leon. Hello."
"What?"
"I-I'm a fan. Could you maybe... sign something?"
"Scram."
"...Pardon?"
"Too annoying. Scram."
Even to a cautious fan, Leon showed no mercy.
He waved her off, frowning in disgust.
"Hah, approach me like that, and you think I don't see your scheme to beg for reinforcement?"
"No, what are you saying? It was pure fandom..."
"Oh~ Is that so? Fine, pick one. Want me to reinforce one piece of gear? Or sign it?"
"Pardon?"
"No hesitating. Be honest—I'm a man of my word. But pick one, and the other is off-limits forever. Choose wisely."
"...Pardon? Uh... um..."
Leon smirked slyly at the hesitating user.
"Knew it, you coward. Hand over the gear and fuck off."
"Leave gear here. Mr. Leon's doing this one special—choose carefully."
"No, seriously... that's not... sigh."
When Leon's bodyguard extended a hand, the user grumbled unfairly but didn't bolt.
His gear handover wore a sleazy, irrepressible grin.
"Ugh, pathetic."
"Wanna live like that?"
"...Kinda jealous though. Should we ask?"
Users in the alley cursed but secretly envied.
That was an artisan's status.
A being that tempted you despite the ugliness.
Of course, Leon wouldn't allow it.
"By the way, this is the last one. Anyone rude... well, you know, right?"
"...Haha, of course."
"Yeah, figured. Tsk."
Users who'd been cut off pretended otherwise, averting eyes.
That was when Leon's gaze met Do-hyun's—as he looked down scornfully.
Leon’s eyes widened slightly in surprise at Do-hyun, then curled into a sneer.
At that punchable smile, Do-hyun thought.
'What’s with this villain-lookin’ punk?'