God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 52: Episode 11 _ A Single Serving Is Meant to Be Eaten Alone (1)
1.
Han Simin never forgot his duties or what he needed to do.
‘Process it and sell it!’
Whether he was a noble or not, it was all an investment for a better life. The money required for his territory would be astronomical, which meant he had to earn even more. So, even while traveling with the imperial knights, he kept himself busy.
"Hold on a moment!"
The knights looked at him in confusion.
He would call a halt at the most random times, then get off his horse with the egg in hand. It was his most promising investment at the moment.
"Hatch into something good once you hit +15."
He had never raised a child, but he imagined this was what being a parent felt like: sacrificing and investing in them until they turned legal, then watching with anticipation to see what they would become. Of course, as Khan had once pointed out, Simin’s feelings for the egg were tainted with the sinister intention of selling it off.
"If I get screwed over again this time..."
Actually, it was a bit ridiculous to say he’d been screwed over. The ring had become soulbound with even better options, as if giving its master, who was about to abandon it, one last chance. If anyone was the traitor, it was Simin, who had planned to enhance it and then sell it.
"You traitor. I’m going to work you to the bone for the rest of your life," Simin muttered, stroking the ring that glowed with a brilliant crimson light on his left ring finger.
He was the type of man who would put a cockroach to work if it lived in his house. The sound of his hammer striking was cheerful as he pondered how to earn even a single extra coin.
Hmm.
Then, a question about the ring suddenly popped into his head. He wasn’t sure why. Perhaps it was because so many things had happened that broke the game’s conventional rules. Creative thinking had always helped him solve problems, and shifting his perspective often led to profit.
‘I wonder if NPCs or monsters are affected by the ring’s bonus?’
It was a strange thought. In any normal game, it would be a ridiculous idea. But the game he was playing now was Fantastic World, a game with an unimaginable degree of freedom. It might be a privilege unique to his Legendary class, but if he could enhance a curse’s magic circle, then this wasn’t so strange.
"Hmm. I’d like to test it out."
A sudden scholarly curiosity ignited within him. He wanted to confirm it. He was especially curious because NPCs had their own levels and grew, even if players couldn’t see it. Furthermore, would monsters be affected too? The item description didn’t include any words limiting its effects to ’players’.
After enhancing the egg, Simin walked over to the knights.
* * *
"...Pardon?"
"Did you say hunting?"
Simin answered, "That’s right. You said we’re only a day away, right? Let’s hunt a little on the way."
The knights fell silent.
The imperial knights were quasi-nobles. While their rank was technically lower than Simin’s new title of baron, they were not the kind of men who took orders from a mere baron. They were the Emperor’s personal guard, the Emperor’s sword. Who would dare give orders to his blade? Naturally, their expressions soured.
"What, you have a problem with that?"
One knight answered, "We were only ordered to escort you safely to the secret tomb."
"Is that so?"
But Simin was no ordinary baron. He was the Emperor’s one and only son-in-law, the only person who could command the knights besides the Emperor himself. That was why the knights couldn’t easily refuse. He was a son-in-law now, but if the Emperor died, he could become the next emperor or the prince consort to an empress.
"Hmm. You’ll regret it."
If he insisted, they would have no choice but to obey, but Simin chose a different approach.
‘A good boss makes his employees follow him willingly!’ he thought, spouting some nonsense to himself as he raised his left hand.
"If you want to protect His Majesty, you have to get stronger, don’t you? Trust me and follow my lead. After an hour of hunting, you’ll be begging me to take you again."
His confidence was absolute, yet the knights’ reactions were still lukewarm.
‘Hah. This isn’t going to work, is it? So you’re going to be uncooperative?’
He had no intention of pulling rank or throwing his weight around, but their attitude was starting to piss him off. With a serious expression, he dismounted.
Of course, the thought of beating the disobedient knights with his +15 items was a surefire way to get himself killed. No matter how good his gear was, these were the knights who protected the Emperor. He guessed they were at least level 200. If they so much as shoved him, forget insubordination, he would probably die.
So, he walked. The knights exchanged confused glances. It was frustrating, but what could he do? In Fantastic World, the one with the higher level and better stats was king. He had to use what he had.
"I’ll go my own way. I guess I’ll have to find the path by myself. If I run into a monster and die, well, that can’t be helped. Give His Majesty my regards. When I get back to the Empire after I die, I’ll be sure to explain exactly why I died."
‘What a despicable bastard.’
The knights, having figured out Simin’s intentions, scowled openly, but Simin didn’t stop walking toward the dense forest next to the well-paved road. He would die if he went in there alone. He was a nobody adventurer, and the area around the unknown secret tomb was teeming with monsters that even the knights had to be wary of.
The knights exchanged glances. What should they do? They desperately wanted to let him go and die, but if they did, they would fail the Emperor’s command. In the end, there was only one answer. Simin had acted in a way that left them no choice but to follow.
What a cunning man. The imperial knights followed him into the woods.
* * *
Simin deliberately sought out monsters.
‘It was a good idea to come this way.’
He had to enhance the egg anyway, and this was much more time-efficient and direct than following the main road and stopping periodically. The only problem was the monsters they encountered.
"Roooar!" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮
"Aack!"
An attack flew at him before he even noticed it. Even with stats that were absurdly high for his current level, the monsters here were on a completely different plane. A single hit would undoubtedly kill him. And in this situation, the knights who were supposed to be protecting him were subtly pretending not to notice. How infuriating!
‘These bastards...’
It felt like he was a newly commissioned second lieutenant being hazed by a squad of sergeants. No, a lieutenant at least had the authority to do something about them. Simin was just a private whose father-in-law happened to be a general.
‘I have to protect myself!’
He was certain that if he just held out a little longer, the knights would have a change of heart. He moved his body, bracing himself.
When he blatantly hid behind one of the knights, the man sidestepped him. But they couldn’t let him die. Just as a monster shrieked and charged, a knight cut it down.
"Kreee!"
The four-legged creature, difficult to even describe, was dead. The six knights were that strong. They were truly fine knights, aside from the fact that they wouldn’t help him unless he was screaming for his life. He swallowed hard and scanned them. The reason he was enduring this humiliation had to be showing up soon.
At that moment, a look of confusion from one of the knights brought a triumphant smile to Simin’s face.
‘There it is!’
He knew it! NPCs had something similar to a leveling system. The knight looked at his comrades with bewildered eyes.
The knight said, "I’ve gotten stronger."
The other knight looked at him, confused.
"What are you talking about?"
"It’s not time yet, but I’ve grown stronger. I was on the verge of a breakthrough, but it shouldn’t have been this fast."
Simin laughed, "Hehehe."
‘You fools.’ Simin smoothly slipped in among the baffled knights. The time had come for him to be of use to these men who had likely spent their entire lives swinging swords.
"What did I tell you? I said you wouldn’t regret it."
The knights looked at him, puzzled.
‘What is this nonsense?’ The glares directed at him were sharp, but he ignored them and continued.
"This ring might look like trash, but it’s actually a Legendary-grade item. It grants a +60% experience acquisition bonus to everyone nearby! With six of you, that’s a total of 66%. Add my own bonus, and it goes up to 72%. Of course you’re going to get stronger faster!"
It was a difficult concept for the knights to grasp, but the atmosphere was now completely different. ‘Could it be true?’ The doubt wavering in their eyes proved it. It was an unavoidable reaction. In the end, these were knights who had dedicated their lives to the sword—the Emperor’s personal guard, the strongest in the Empire. Their desire for strength was greater than anything, and they endured bone-breaking training to achieve it. The idea that they could grow stronger faster by simply killing monsters instead of relying solely on endless swordsmanship drills was an offer they couldn’t possibly refuse.
"So? Are you tempted now?"
"...May we hunt a little longer?"
"Of course!"
‘Hook, line, and sinker.’ He nodded and egged the knights on.
"Go nuts. We still have half a day left, so hunt as much as you want."
The only potential problem would have been if the knights didn’t gain experience from hunting. But now that it was proven that NPCs could achieve an effect similar to leveling up through hunting, the value of the Ring of Blessing had just multiplied.
‘Not just for players, but for NPCs too...’
At the very least, he wouldn’t starve until the game shut down. A satisfied smile spread across his face as he watched the knights draw their swords and prepare to hunt in earnest. Six gallant figures formed a perfect defensive formation around him, completely blocking his view and preventing him from drawing any aggro. He felt a surge of pride.
‘This must be what it feels like to be the Emperor.’
With such dependable knights, he wouldn’t mind being level 21. If he could just hunt with them, he could grow so fast that the 300% experience penalty would be a joke.
Clang.
Having chosen their targets, the knights silently swung their swords at the charging monsters. Their coordination was flawless.
Slice. Thud.
"Whoa," Simin breathed in awe.
He had thought they were skilled before, easily handling the monsters that approached, but compared to now, it was clear they had been holding back. A single strike! The combined assault of six knights was something no mere monster could withstand.
Simin was speechless. This was by no means a low-level hunting ground, yet they were killing monsters as if they were hunting rabbits. The more he watched, the more he wanted them for himself.
Of course, it wasn’t just greed he felt. He was also furious.
‘These sons of bitches... if only they had fought like this from the start.’
He felt a surge of anger as he remembered the past few minutes, his heart pounding as he dodged attacks he could barely see, just trying to stay alive. He wanted to give them just a taste and then cut them off, but...
‘They seem useful, so I’ll let it slide.’
The Emperor’s knights could become his son-in-law’s knights, couldn’t they? Taking them without permission would be impossible, but if they themselves wanted it, that was a different story. And Simin was an expert at creating justifications.
"Hunt! Go wild! Just do whatever you want!"
For now, the knights were happy to obey. Disaster had struck the hunting ground, a place untouched by human hands where the law of the jungle had reigned supreme. Most of the knights had hit a wall in their training. By breaking through that wall with experience points from hunting, they were able to achieve a breakthrough in a short amount of time.
"...I’ve gotten stronger."
"I’ve reached a new stage."
"How..."
For the first time, they looked at Han Simin with expressions of wonder. In truth, all he had done was give these NPCs, who had only ever trained with swords, a taste of experience points, but he puffed out his chest proudly.
"See? This is what I can do."
It was an achievement worth boasting about. He didn’t know what it was like before players came to Fantastic World, but Simin had opened a new path for them. Having tasted the extra experience from the Ring of Blessing, they would never be satisfied with hunting alone again. It was a kind of drug, and Simin had just administered it to the Emperor’s imperial knights.
"Stop! Stop! Right turn here!"
With the thought that he might be able to get the mysterious egg to +15 soon, he tore through the hunting grounds with the knights in tow.
* * *
