God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 90: Episode 18 _ Defense is National Power(1)
1. π§ππππΈπ¦π£πππ·ππ.π€π°π
Someone once said that time moves faster than light.
No one can catch passing time, and if you arenβt faithful to that time, it disappears before you can do anything.
Therefore, the present moment is important, and one must work hard when given the time.
Approaching it with that philosophy, a strange saying exists in the military:
βThe Ministry of National Defenseβs clock keeps ticking.β
Anyway, since time is fair and flies for everyone, if you work hard in your military service, the day of discharge will come!
That was total bullshit, though. It was just a phrase used by sergeants near discharge to tease their juniors who had to serve at least a few more days, or at most, over a year longer than they did.
Of course, it wasnβt entirely wrong.
Military life moves so slowly that you wonder if time has stopped for the person experiencing it; from the outside, it looks like they come out on vacation without having done anything.
Because people on the outside are trapped in their daily routines, living a repetitive life, stuck in a mold!
It was the same for Simin.
Cleaning up the surroundings of the territory with the knights.
"Whew. The enhancement is going well, as expected."
Under that guise, he was conducting a new armor enhancement operation!
It went smoothly.
For the first few days, they hunted without sleeping. From the fifth day on, they proceeded with a hellish forced march: six hours of hunting, ten minutes of rest, filling the twenty-four-hour cycle, and then three hours of sleep. Consequently, no knight had the luxury to care about the passing time.
Simin was the same.
It was a process he absolutely had to go through.
Training to meet a version of himself upgraded to the next level by enhancing his armor to +15!
How could the process be uninteresting or boring?
He was eating up experience points for free and monopolizing all the expensive monsters.
If he had his way, he would want to go around like this for about a hundred days, not just ten.
"Is it already ten days?"
The knights remained silent.
Unfortunately, time, which flows fast enough as it is, disappeared like an arrow when fun was added to it.
Already ten days.
No, Simin, who had slyly sneaked in two extra days to exploit the knights for all they were worth for twelve days, stretched his limbs.
He didnβt know if he could buy a few more days by trying to rub up against them more, but the need to do so had vanished.
He had finished the +15 work on both the inner and outer sets of the two armor sets he had obtained from the Emperor.
It ended sooner than expected.
It was said to be two sets of armor, but if divided by piece, it was over ten items.
Especially since the level range was 40 and the grade was a whopping Special, the enhancement difficulty was bound to be high.
"As expected, you have to go to a high-level zone."
However, the space where Simin was standing was a place teeming with monsters that didnβt die in one hit, even from the swords wielded by the Imperial Knights!
They had come out so far north that if they went just a little further, they could reach one of the Four Forbidden Zones.
That was why he could finish the enhancement as much as he wanted in twelve days.
Although he had used up almost all the enhancement stones he had.
"I feel proud."
Silence answered him.
No one agreed with Siminβs words.
Proud, my ass.
If anything, they were grinding their teeth.
The knights flashed ferocious glints in their eyes.
Compared to twelve days ago, the Imperial Knights back then felt like gentle lambs in terms of spirit!
Their appearance proved that it was a time when they worked that hard and were able to fill the parts they lacked.
"...We certainly seem to have become stronger."
"Yeah, of course. You raised at least two levels, right?"
Whether it was because Siminβs rank was low or his level was low, he couldnβt check their levels even though the Imperial Knights were temporarily subordinated to him. Even if he asked directly, there was no way he would know.
So it was just a guess, but for the Imperial Knights, who were likely over level 200, to grow enough to raise their levels twice meant this was an abundant training session!
Furthermore, he only knew they leveled up by estimation; the two growths they spoke of might not be level-based indicators.
"Thank you."
"Thank you."
Anyway, the knights became stronger and gained a sense of real combat or something beyond that, which they couldnβt feel when training by pointing swords at each other every day.
At the same time, it seemed they also got cancer from the stress, but the knights were people who distinguished between public and private matters and thoroughly distinguished between benefactors and enemies!
He was half an enemy, but closer to a benefactor, so they bowed their heads to Simin.
"Yeah, yeah. Good work. Although I was volunteering, it was fun while I was with you guys."
Is this the reason a monarch keeps knights?
The emotion spreading touchingly in the center of his chest!
βI raised my level by nine.β
That was probably the biggest reason, but the hunt ended satisfactorily for everyone.
Final level 42 achieved!
Considering that Kang Yeseul, the current rank 1, was passing level 55, a sigh naturally came out regarding how great the power of the required experience penalty was, but he still caught up a lot.
Though the gap would widen again.
"Okay. Letβs go back now."
Since he got what he wanted, all that was left was to take the credit.
After instructing the rabbits, who had reached level 46, to move the monster corpses collected so far to the territory, he headed to the Empire with the knights.
Returning home in glory!
Like gaining a thousand troops and ten thousand horses!
Whatever it was, Siminβs shoulders were raised high with pride.
* * *
"...No, where the hell is this Ruler of the Forest guy?"
"If itβs a named monster, it should look different from normal monsters."
"Sis, are you sure this is a quest we can actually clear?"
"Well."
Jeong Seolah made a troubled expression.
Ruler of the Gloomy Forest.
Did it really exist?
It was such a vast forest, and there were still many spaces they hadnβt been to, so they couldnβt conclude hastily. But what was certain was that they had explored all the territories of monsters they could catch up to their level, and even to the limit beyond that.
It was so bad that recently, they even gave up hunting and wandered around just to find the named monster first.
Even so, they couldnβt find the Ruler of the Forest.
"This sounds too obvious, but could the strongest guy in this forest be the ruler?"
She fell silent.
It was enough to make such a doubt arise naturally.
In fact, it was too obvious a story, common sense, and basically the first problem that should have come to mind. But the reason they hadnβt dared to imagine it until now was that this was, after all, a game.
There were character levels and difficulty levels.
For a quest of that level, a player with specs fitting it should be able to clear it. But if that hypothesis held true, the quest would have a difficulty far greater than the playerβs level.
However, looking at it now, she thought the developers might actually do such a crazy thing.
"...Does that mean itβs hard for the three of us?"
"Agh! Where in the world does that happen!"
Because itβs reality.
A game, yet reality!
Reality, yet a game!
The difficulty was hard, but not at a level that could never be cleared.
If hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of people gathered and scoured the forest, no matter if it was a player in the level 50sβno, maybe level 50 was insufficientβbut if players in the level 90s, the level before Act 3 of the Main Quest started, swept through the forest, wouldnβt they be able to catch it?
Jeong Seolah judged coldly.
It was possible.
Even if just thirty more players as the Specialists gathered right now, there was a fighting chance, even if the Ruler of the Gloomy Forest was between level 100 and 150.
βIf we at least had the rabbits...β
Her brow furrowed naturally.
That was over-spec.
Simin belonged to the Specialist Guild, but strictly speaking, his martial power was something players couldnβt possess.
For instance, he was a helper.
Paying money to receive help was itself a benefit given to the Specialists, but if they proceeded with the Main Quest, which was only at Act 2, in that manner, then for all situations after that, they would either have to wait until the three of them leveled up enough to chase the Main Quest or spend money again to get Siminβs help.
A moment of choice.
What to do.
"Letβs inform the players."
"About what?"
"The Main Quest. We canβt clear it by ourselves."
In the end, Jeong Seolah chose to look to the future.
There was no guarantee that Simin would be their guild forever, and it wasnβt good to pour endless investment into a place where they couldnβt recover it.
Of course, there would be many things gained from it, but that would only be temporary.
If the Main Quest proceeded several times faster than the growth speed of general players in this way, the value of the game would eventually drop.
The damage returning from that would be a problem that all players who staked their lives on the game would have to bear.
So she informed them.
To the numerous rankers, including Kenji, who had hit level 50 and started digging into the Main Quest.
To the numerous players coming to the Ain Kingdom, where the Main Quest was progressing the fastest in another kingdom.
Come to the Gloomy Forest.
If you want to seize the initiative.
"There is only one thing we have to do from now on."
Jeong Seolah, who had opened the Hell Gate, spoke with a determined expression.
"Level up."
And.
"Player hunting."
The coordinates of the Rich Territory were posted on the FW Community.
2.
When he arrived at the Empire, Simin tilted his head at the atmosphere, which was different from just two weeks ago.
"What is it? Is there a festival?"
"...It wasnβt scheduled, but it seems to be a festival."
The knights were equally bewildered.
A festival all of a sudden?
Furthermore, a festival atmosphere throughout the entire capital meant it was a national festival held only once a year, or perhaps once in a blue moon. And the Imperial Knights didnβt know about it?
Nonsense!
"The closest festival is the Knight Tournament, but thereβs no way itβs happening already."
"What is it?"
It didnβt matter much to Simin.
Even if it was a festival, it wasnβt like he would get a double experience buff. At best, he would just feel full by picking up and eating delicious food scattered on the streets.
But it was different for the knights.
"Something must be happening."
They were curious.
What could it be?
Such a national festival naturally required the Emperorβs permission.
They didnβt know the purpose of the festival, but for a festival to proceed suddenly during the twelve days they were away?
The knightsβ steps naturally quickened.
* * *
"...Pardon?"
"The Knight Tournament starts today. You all worked hard on training, so wash up and get ready. The competition is tomorrow."
"We receive your command!"
"We receive your command!"
The returned knights gathered at the training ground and had to receive an out-of-the-blue order from the Emperor.
They had suspected βmaybeβ, but to think it was true!
Why on earth?
They bowed their heads and withdrew, suppressing their questions for a moment.
Anyway, wasnβt this situation what they had been waiting for!
Just the fact that the opportunity to show off their skills, strengthened through ten days of training, to the continent had arrived before their eyes meant the knights had nothing to lose.
The penalty of not being able to rest could be sufficiently resolved during the one day of rest given.
As the knights hurriedly withdrew, the Emperor looked at Simin and smiled meaningfully.
"Good work."
"Give and take. I got a lot of good things, so I was generous with two extra days."
"Do you expect a thank you?"
"Forget it. No need for formalities between us. Haha! Although I carried them on my back and raised them, itβs all for my father-in-law, so donβt worry about it too much."
At first glance, a heartwarming scene!
But the Emperorβs next words shattered that misunderstanding.
"I have arranged for you to participate in the Knight Tournament starting tomorrow as well."
"Huh?"
Eh?
What kind of nonsense was this?
Simin, who was planning to see his pretty bride once and check if there were any crumbs to pick up before going to grow his territory, paused.
"Why me?"
"Arenβt you the master of the Imperial Knights?"
"What do you mean master? I havenβt done a single thing."
"...You said you carried them on my back and raised them."
"That was just a figure of speech. Iβm not even a knight, so I donβt want to go out there and get involved in a controversy about the Emperorβs son-in-lawβs privileges."
Simin was firm.
Naturally.
βWhy go to a tournament that doesnβt make money?β
Of course, there might be something if he won.
But winning?
In a tournament where Imperial Knights participate?
Not a chance.
βHow am I supposed to beat level 200s?β
What works works, and what doesnβt doesnβt.
No matter how much his armor was upgraded, the level difference was absolute!
It didnβt seem possible.
Then backing out was the right move.
"Then, take care."
Crumbs or whatever, he stepped back to slyly pull out.
But as always, the Emperor was not easy.
"I will place a few conditions. Things that will be satisfactory."
"...Ah, damn it."
He knew Siminβs weakness all too well.
* * *
