God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 263: Episode _The Great Gear Arms Race (6)

9.

Finally, he began the enhancement.

+13.

A level 200 Epic Legendary-grade hidden weapon, and on top of that, one meant for a specific race.

Just looking at the conditions was enough to give him a pounding headache and fill him with self-doubt. ’Can I really pull this off?’ And of course, it just had to be twin swords.

If they were going to be twin swords, would it have killed the system to let him enhance them as a set?

He had to enhance them separately.

In a way, the fact that the former Enhancer had managed to bring both swords up to +12 was an incredible achievement in itself.

The effort involved must have been at least double what it would have taken to enhance a single weapon.

Of course, from a wielder’s perspective, enhancing twin swords separately was a good thing.

If they were treated as a set, it would be more convenient and cheaper to upgrade, but their attack power wouldn’t be applied separately, making them less than half as powerful as they were now.

That was good news for low-budget players, but not much of a benefit for high-budget ones.

Especially since handling twin swords was on a completely different level from just waving around a single blade.

You needed a deep understanding of twin-sword techniques, and you had to train your body to wield them proficiently.

Above all, you had to attack with the swords and defend with the swords.

Multitasking was just as important.

In any case, he was about to enhance these very twin swords.

“Whew.”

Taking a deep breath, Han Simin spoke.

Now it was starting.

To him, it didn’t matter whether there was one sword or two.

All he needed were materials.

Sacrifices for the enhancement, and the proper ritual to match.

To that end, he had to put Epia to work.

Any doubts about whether the little brat would listen to him had vanished during their journey here.

He had already thought of plenty of ways to exploit her.

The question was whether she could actually do it.

“I’m starting the enhancement now, but I’ll need your cooperation. We have to gather the materials, and at my level, I’ll be lucky to survive the trip, let alone find what we need. I need you to do the heavy lifting. Just follow my orders until the enhancement is done.”

She remained silent.

Could she even do that?

No matter how childlike Epia acted, and no matter how much the story with the former Enhancer had led her to accept this deal, she was still the Demon King.

If she didn’t look the way she did—if she were, say, ten feet tall, covered in muscle, with a face that could chew up ten demons on expression alone—he wouldn’t have dared bring this up.

Compared to Simin, who would be lucky to ever dream of level 100 thanks to his experience penalty, and Specialist, who had barely reached level 100 after more than a year of brutal grinding, she had every right to scoff and tell them to come back in a hundred years. She was a monster among monsters, easily over level 200.

Whether someone like her would grant his request was entirely up to her mood.

How far could he push this?

How strong was the power of a Story Quest?

As Simin swallowed and waited, Epia gave him a sidelong, appraising glance.

’Is he trying to pull some trick again?’

With that thought, Simin’s vision went dark.

*

’What the...’

’The past again? A flashback, out of nowhere?’

He was dumbfounded and, at the same time, uneasy.

Back in the Demon King’s castle, he hadn’t felt his life was in danger, since he’d only been facing the Demon King.

She had been the greatest threat, of course, but the very fact that a cutscene like this was playing meant his immediate safety was guaranteed.

But things were different now.

Currently, Han Simin was standing in the heart of the Demon World.

And there was no guarantee that the propitious site they had found was safe.

If anything, it was far more likely to be crawling with dangerous creatures—the kind that would drop the materials needed to upgrade +12 swords to +13.

And in the middle of that, he had been dragged into a cutscene.

If this cutscene appeared to Simin every time Epia recalled the past because he was tied to her Story Quest, then Epia herself was likely frozen as well.

But what if demons showed up?

’...Guess it’ll be fine.’

His worry lasted about two seconds—just long enough for him to remember who would protect him—before it vanished.

Grokile was, for all his flaws, still an upper-rank demon, and Aria was an upper-rank Celestial. The Specialists wouldn’t be much help in a direct fight, but she could at least provide support from the side. In fact, if he were being honest, the most useless one here—aside from when he was actually enhancing—might very well be Han Simin himself.

With that thought, he instantly dismissed his pointless worries and focused on the footage.

He had no idea why the system kept forcing him to watch these annoying videos, but every single one was money in the bank. They were all necessary to complete the quest. By watching them, he could also learn about the past of that bastard of a master who had dumped a pile of misfortune on him without ever showing his face.

There was nothing to be gained from learning the life story of some shady old man, but who knew? Maybe there was a hidden treasure tucked away in there somewhere.

A little hope never hurt anyone.

He glared at the screen, his eyes wide.

The video was from before the war broke out, far earlier than the first one he had seen.

’Well, yeah. There’s no reason to show anything from after everyone’s already dead.’

It was a story from before the war, before the two of them had ever whispered words of love.

He saw Epia just after she had come to the continent through the Demon World Gate.

She was a pure, enthusiastic succubus, overflowing with energy and eager to meet humans.

Rather than a greedy desire to grow stronger by draining vitality, what came through most strongly was her simple wish to finally satisfy the curiosity about humans she had harbored all her life.

That Epia wandered the continent and eventually met him.

The former Enhancer.

Just as Simin sometimes did when he was enhancing, the man was covered head to toe in dust and dirt. He was carrying the Legendary Hammer that Simin now possessed—completely unenhanced—slung over his shoulder when they first crossed paths.

Epia’s face was full of wonder, but her body instinctively took a guarded stance.

Humans were fascinating and easily swayed by temptation, yet at the same time, they were cruel and clever.

—"Don’t rush in. Gain some experience with humans first, then drain their vitality."

The advice of the other succubi was ingrained in her.

Seeing the tense Epia, the former Enhancer immediately broke into a bright smile.

He looked to be in his mid-twenties. His smile was free of guile as he walked straight up to her and held out his hand.

“A succubus?”

“Ah! Y-yes, I am.”

“So you’re a succubus who just arrived in the human world, huh?”

“How did you...?”

“How do you think? Come here a second.”

She looked at him in confusion.

When the naive Epia leaned in as he asked, he whispered in her ear.

“The truth is, I’m a warlock. I’m in charge of guiding demons who cross over to the continent.”

“...Ah! So that’s why....”

“Yup. That’s why you were able to arrive at exactly the right time. Where did the other demons you came with go?”

“Ah. They all said they had somewhere to be and left...”

“Right? There are warlocks waiting for each of them. Come on. Let’s go, too.”

“Huh? Okay. But I never heard anything about that.”

“Of course you didn’t. This is basic stuff. Who’s going to bother explaining it to you? What, are you doubting me right now?”

“Ah.”

Faced with the former Enhancer’s brazen stream of lies, Epia fidgeted, completely at a loss.

That was the kind of succubus Epia was.

Born a succubus, yet she had never once used her powers.

Not because there was anything wrong with her.

Once in ten thousand years, a unique existence would be born among the succubi—an aberration, and at the same time, the hope of her people. That was her.

The one destined to conquer the Demon World.

Unlike a typical succubus, she was strong. She had gripped a sword from a young age, and because of that, she was a pure soul who could be completely taken in by the former Enhancer’s words.

“First, put your seal here.”

“What is it?”

“It’s just a pledge. It says that while you’re on the continent, you won’t harm or kill the warlock guiding you, and that you’ll stay here under mutual consent and part ways peacefully. It’s nothing. You don’t have to sign it if you don’t want to. Warlocks just carry these around to protect themselves. If you don’t feel like it, don’t. It’s not like you seem like the type who’d kill me. I’ll just be a little nervous, that’s all.”

“Uh... if that’s all it is, then okay.”

And just like that, she stamped it.

The same woman who wouldn’t even give Simin’s contracts a second glance.

’You bastard.’

The video ended there.

Simin didn’t need to see the rest to understand how things had gone, at least to a certain extent.

He didn’t know why the former Enhancer had turned out to be a scammer so similar to himself, but with a con like that, the rest was obvious.

There was no way a guy who could shamelessly trick someone into signing a scam contract with such a straight face would then get all shy and flustered about it.

He must have dragged her around and used her, just like Simin did with Aria.

Then, somewhere along the way, they had fallen in love.

And that was why, from then on, she had absolutely refused to sign any kind of contract.

When the video ended, Epia was still sizing up Han Simin. Finally, she nodded.

“Fine. Tell me what you want.”

He remained silent.

With her arms folded and her chin tipped up, a faint, gentle smile lingered on her lips after revisiting the past. The Demon King looked surprisingly charming.

*

Any vague unease about Epia projecting the former Enhancer’s image onto him didn’t shake Simin in the slightest.

If she told him to do something, he would do it.

“Fifteen pairs of wings from mid-rank demons, and seven horns.”

“The liver of a high-rank beast? What’s this for?”

He didn’t hesitate.

He didn’t feel the slightest need to apologize.

After all, Han Simin was the one doing all the labor for free.

“Let’s go.”

She didn’t respond.

When Han Simin spoke, Grokile scooped Epia up and took to the sky.

They would vanish, and about thirty minutes later, they would reappear with the requested materials.

It was nothing short of astonishing.

Even with a Demon King as his helper, which made gathering materials easy, it still took half a day before he could finally lay one of the twin swords on the anvil.

That was how complicated it was.

Enhancing a level 200 item.

They hadn’t even started yet, and they were already at this stage.

If this was what it took for +13, what would +14 be like? And the cursed +15 beyond that?

He looked at the sacrificial offerings piled on the anvil like a mountain and washed those worries away.

This was not the time to be worrying.

The +13 enhancement was only beginning now.

Gathering the sacrifices had only been to raise the odds.

From here on, he needed a ritual to make that accumulated probability converge as close to 100 percent as possible.

“Hmm...”

Han Simin, who had done anything and everything for that very purpose, checked the ritual and let out a long sigh.

Then he made sure Epia knew just how much she owed him.

“You really ought to be grateful to me. Haah. What kind of riches and glory am I supposed to get out of this bullshit?”

With those words, he stripped off his armor, planted his hands on the ground, and kicked up into a handstand, legs spread wide.

He swung the hammer without a shred of shame.

A flash of light burst through the darkness of the Demon World.

It was a light of change.

A miraculous light that heralded a shift in history and a different future to come.

And a light that illuminated Han Simin’s naked body in all its glory.

“Ugh. You lunatic.”

“Oh my! You’re amazing, Simin!”

He was speechless.

The embarrassment belonged entirely to the ones watching.