God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 23: Episode 5 _ One Dagger, One Life (1)

1.

"You’re leaving?" the King asked.

"Yes, I’ll keep my promise, so don’t worry. I’ll work hard to level up and come back again," Simin replied.

"Very well." King Ain readily nodded. He knew he couldn’t hold an adventurer and force him to pledge loyalty.

"I will have a carriage prepared for you."

"Thank you."

The king would provide support now and call in the favor later. He had handled Simin properly, and Simin was also satisfied, having obtained what he wanted. It was a win-win situation.

"Well then, I’ll see you next time."

"Ah! Wait a moment," the king called out.

"Yes?"

But of course, the world was never that simple. King Ain stopped Han Simin as he was leaving with light steps.

"I almost forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"When you get to Haran Castle, go to the Magic Tower and show them this." He handed Simin a golden plaque.

"What’s this?"

Han Simin’s eyes instinctively widened. Gold?! His first thought was how much he could get if he sold it. His greedy gaze was fixed desperately on the king.

‘Please tell me it’s mine.’

If he presented this, he would get help or a gift! If so, there would be no problem selling the plaque itself.

"It is a plaque that proves one is acting as a proxy for the king’s mission."

"Ah. Then if I sell it..."

"The moment you sell it, it will be considered treason, and the Royal Knights will pursue you."

Excuse me?

"No, if that’s the case..." ‘Why are you giving me something so useless?’ Acting as a proxy for the king’s mission? It sounded nice, but it was just a way of saying he was the king’s errand boy. In other words, it was a quest. Other players would be happy to receive it, but that wasn’t the case for Han Simin.

‘Now that my required experience is at 300%...’

He was already unmotivated, but some crappy passive skill called God’s Blessing had appeared, dropping his motivation to the level of despair. The higher his level got, the more stats he would have than others, so it could indeed be called a blessing given only to the one who first succeeded at a +15 enhancement, but...

‘Shit. When am I ever going to hit max level?’

That didn’t apply to him.

[Character Information]

* Name: Simin

* Job: Ultimate Legendary Enhancement Master (1st Awakening)

* Sub-job: X

* Titles: 7

* Level: 7 (Required Experience +300%)

* Stats (5): Strength (40+50) Agility (55+50) Stamina (50+50) Luck (183+50) Mana (40+50)

* Skills: Enhancement (F), Absolute Enhancement (SS), Legendary Heal (S), God’s Blessing (SS)

* Auxiliary Options

1. +23% chance of adding a special option upon successful enhancement

2. +5% chance of increased enhancement effect upon successful enhancement

3. +5% enhancement success rate

What’s the use of having sky-high stats if his level was still 7? Max level? He didn’t even know what it was, let alone if it was a level he could ever reach.

"Hah."

A sigh escaped him. Even if it was a game to make money, he had to have some affection for his character to earn enough to support his real life. Even in The World, he had worked hard to level up and obtain items himself instead of just enhancing things on a level 1 character. It was a kind of personal conviction. That conviction was about to be broken, so he couldn’t help but feel frustrated.

"Receive it, even if you do not want to," the King said. "I will not make any unreasonable demands of you. Think of it as a gift from me," the king said.

‘Where in the world is there a gift that gets you branded a traitor if you lose it?’ Simin couldn’t bring himself to say it. King Ain’s eyes were full of warmth, and it probably wasn’t because he had a good personality. So he just took it.

"You may not see its value, but it is an item that can be a great privilege to adventurers. It is a plaque that allows one to accept and carry out most requests not only in the Ain Kingdom but in other kingdoms as well."

"Yes, thank you." Thinking that he would have a use for it someday, Simin carelessly tossed the golden plaque into his magic pouch. "Well then, goodbye."

And he left the royal castle. The start of another tedious journey.

* * *

Han Simin didn’t originally enjoy thinking. It wasn’t that he lived without thinking, but rather that he had been forced to have a lot of time to think since he was young: during middle and high school, university classes, two years in the military, and for several months after his accident. He felt like he had done all the thinking he would do in his entire life.

"Hmm. It would be nice to have something to ride."

That same person was thinking again. And this time, he was doing it seriously—and actually enjoying it. His mind didn’t rest for the entire carriage ride, focused on his character’s development. Once he put his mind to it, a flood of ideas came to him.

‘Since I don’t need to hunt anyway, and I just need to move quickly to find prime locations, it would be good to buy a flying monster.’

As expected, his thoughts were all related to enhancement. The faster and more comfortably he could enhance, the fatter his wallet would become.

‘If I level up and enhance my necklace, I won’t have to run away even if an unexpected battle breaks out.’

He even thought about how to deal with monsters he might encounter at prime locations. In most online games, enhancement was limited to weapons, armor, and accessories, but in Fantastic World, the range was expanded to all usable items. He had to consider things he hadn’t thought of before as targets for enhancement. As he did so, the pouch hanging from his waist caught his eye.

"Ah!"

’Why didn’t I think of this?’ For a legendary enhancement master who can enhance any item, wouldn’t enhancing a magic pouch also have meaning?

‘If the inside gets bigger...’

There would be no need to spend money to replace the magic pouch later!

"Wow!"

He was proud of himself for thinking of it now. He even thought of a way to make money without having to wait for the high-level sections.

‘Since one of these is 100 gold coins, if I enhance it to about +10 and sell it for 200 gold coins...’

It was a whole new creative economy! It might even be more profitable than finding, enhancing, and selling weapons. He’d have to test it to see the effects, but in his mind, a dreamlike future was already unfolding, one where every advantage of his job was fully exploited. ’It’s just my imagination, so what’s the harm?’ Since he had to spend a few days in the carriage anyway, he decided to imagine everything he could. Another idea popped into his head.

‘If I could enhance my body like in a novel.’

Like enhancing his arm to increase strength and agility by five, or enhancing his brain to increase mana. Then he could enhance his whole body to +15 and wipe everything out.

"Hehehe."

He even had such ridiculous thoughts. Time flew by, and he could have just left his character in the carriage and logged in upon arrival, but since he had nothing else to do, he chose to browse the FW Forum in the carriage. He was a game addict to the bone. A hologram appeared, and he connected to the FW Forum community. The post he had forgotten about came to mind, and his gaze naturally turned to the ’best posts’ section.

"Ooh!"

His gaze, filled with 99% anticipation, was met with satisfaction. The number of recommendations was overwhelmingly higher than other posts, as was the view count. Perhaps because of that, his FW Forum grade had also risen by one level, an exceptional case for a single post.

"Heh."

It must be his lucky day. He happily checked the best comment. It would probably be flooded with posts about how someone was so jealous they hadn’t been to the bathroom in days or had been hospitalized with a stomachache.

—Congratulations on the +15. As promised, I will give you my entire fortune of 50 bronze. Please contact me when you see this comment.

"Huh?"

But what greeted him was a completely unexpected comment. ’What does that mean?’ Puzzled, he checked the best comments from the bottom up and scowled.

"This son of a..."

‘How dare you make a bet about me! And on top of that, you lose and then try to weasel out of it?’ He drew all the attention and then cleverly slipped away. It was a common occurrence in online communities, but seeing the sarcastic comment made Simin angry. Wasn’t it just a case of piggybacking on the best comment he had worked hard to create?

"Gongheon... you’re dead if I see you."

Of course, the probability of meeting him was extremely low. The continent was so vast, and even if he was lucky enough to meet him, there was no way to recognize him. It was the curse of a game that allowed duplicate IDs. He could only fume by himself that his first top post had been sullied by such a trashy comment.

2.

Upon arriving at Haran Castle, Han Simin immediately initiated a chat with Jeong Seolah.

"Seolah, I’m here."

"...Ah! You’re here? I’m so sorry, what should we do? We’re in the middle of the main quest right now and have stepped out for a bit." Her voice was full of apology.

"Is it going to take a long time?" Simin asked.

"It’s a ruins raid, so I don’t know when we’ll be back."

"Hmm." ‘What to do? What to do?’ "Then I’ll come to you."

"Excuse me?"

After a moment of thought, he said it nonchalantly.

"But the monster level here is..."

Of course, Han Simin was the only one who was calm.

"What level is it? If it’s a place I can’t join, I’ll wait."

"It’s not that, but the monster level is 25, and the named monster we’re going to raid is 35."

"That’s perfect."

"Excuse me?"

"If you give me the coordinates, I’ll head over."

"...Okay."

Jeong Seolah, flustered by his matter-of-fact tone, eventually agreed and gave him the coordinates. She couldn’t just keep refusing when he said he would come himself. Besides, it wasn’t like he was a stranger.

"Time to go."

Having ended the conversation, Han Simin headed straight for the enhancement forge. He had talked big, so he needed to prepare to avoid looking like a fool.

"Master!"

"You’re back."

"’You’re back....?’ Your disciple has returned after succeeding at the continent’s first +15!"

Ta-da!

At the sight of the dagger flaunting its magnificent crimson light, a spark appeared in Khan’s indifferent eyes. Then, a sigh escaped him.

"I can’t believe you actually succeeded."

"What did I tell you? I said I could do it, right?"

Khan was speechless.

Looking at Khan, whose face was a mixture of emotions, he handed him the dagger. Khan, who had been feigning indifference, carefully took the dagger and examined it from all angles. It was an enhancement master’s dream to enhance a mythic weapon! To think the day would come when he would see it with his own two eyes.

"Master, isn’t the Khan family the best now?"

"The best, my foot."

Though Khan denied it, the corners of his mouth that had turned up spoke for his feelings. Han Simin felt a sense of pride. It felt like he had sufficiently rewarded him for teaching him the family’s secret techniques.

So he asked the question with confidence, "So, about that. Can you give me some enhancement stones?"

"What?"

"Now that I’ve made a +15, I want to go and show it off, but my armor is only +11, so I’m a bit worried. Please give me some enhancement stones so I can make them all +13."

At the completely shameless begging, Khan laughed out of sheer absurdity.

* * *