Siegfried stopped in his tracks after hearing the commotion outside the workshop.
‘Are enhancement machines always that busy…?’ he wondered while looking at the machines lined up outside the workshop.
Adventurers had a love-hate relationship with enhancement machines. Anyone who wanted to enhance their gear without the use of a guaranteed enhancement coupon like Siegfried would have to depend on their own luck after putting their gear in the machine.
Even seasoned veteran blacksmiths had no choice but to rely on their own luck when it came to enhancing, and there were no guarantees. Therefore, the workshops decided to install enhancement machines to save money, time, and power.
After all, there wouldn’t be that much of a difference. In addition, the machines would also protect the blacksmiths from furious Adventurers who might kill them after enhancement failures.
“Kyu? What are you looking at, owner punk?” Hamchi asked.
“That,” Siegfried replied while pointing at a line of enhancement machines.
There was a crowd of people in front of the enhancement machines labeled Mercedes Workshop Enhancement Machine One. Some of them were watching others enhance their equipment while others were putting their gear into the machines.
The machines labeled as one by the top three workshops were rumored to possess the highest success rate among all machines, so they tend to be the busiest machines among every other enhancement machine.
“I’m quitting this game if this fails!” An Adventurer shouted before shoving his +11 weapon and enhancement materials—gold and enhancement stones—into the machine.
He was attempting to bring his weapon to the next level of the spectrum, which was the realm of +12 and above.
Woooong!
The machine vibrated vigorously…
Chik! Chik! Poof!
It started releasing steam…
Chik! Chik! Poof!
The enhancement machine’s pistons worked faster as it released more steam. A cloud of steam eventually surrounded it.
Fwooooosh…!
Thirty seconds later, the enhancement machine released its final cloud of steam.
Flash!
Light flashed as the enhancement machine opened its mouth, announcing the result.
[Alert: The enhancement requested by Evil Buddha-nim has failed!]
[Alert: The item +11 Blue Crescent Sword has been destroyed!]
The equipment’s enhancement levels were either setback by one or reset to zero in the event of a failed enhancement from zero to ten, but there was a chance that the equipment was going to be destroyed starting from eleven and above.
The consequences of enhancement failure depended on the item’s enhancement level
From +1 to +10, equipment would either lose an enhancement level or lose all of its enhancement levels in case of a catastrophic enhancement attempt. However, enhancement failure on items +11 and above meant the destruction of the item.
“Ah…” Evil Buddha muttered blankly as he looked at the pile of dust that the enhancement machine had spat out.
However, the nearby Adventurers rejoiced.
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“YES!”
“Kyah~ It happened!”
“Hell, yeaaaah!”
“It blew up! Kekeke!”
It was indeed pleasurable to watch someone else suffer. The Adventurers revealed looks of ecstasy the moment the weapon went poof!
“Fuck! This trash game! I’m quitting this shitty ass game! I’m quitttiiiiiiing!” Evil Buddha screamed at the top of his lungs. However, no one gave a damn about him because he was no longer the center of attention.
“Hey, fuck off!”
“Move! It’s my turn!”
“No, I got here first!”
The others started fighting for their turn with their +11 weapons in hand, and their enthusiasm seemed to have been fueled by the superstition that this machine now had a higher chance of success.
The Adventurers believed in a particular superstition—an offering.
There was a popular belief that destroyed equipment was an offering to the enhancement machine, which would increase the success rate of the next person. This wasn’t really a rare sight, as most games with transparent enhancement rates had the same superstition.
[Alert: The enhancement requested by Minju Magician-nim has failed!]
[Alert: The item +11 Sage’s Seal has been destroyed!]
Of course, there was no way that their enhancement would succeed just because the person that had gone after them had failed.
“Sigh… What do they hope to achieve by doing all of that? Can’t they just be satisfied with what they have? They’re going to go bankrupt at that rate…” Siegfried shook his head at the crowd. There were actual cases of people selling their houses, cars, and possessions just to enhance their equipment to a certain level.
In fact, it had gotten so bad that there had been news of gamers committing suicide after losing everything they had in an effort to enhance their items.
“Let’s not become like them, Hamchi.”
“Kyu!” Hamchi exclaimed, obviously in agreement.
Siegfried shook his head and left.
“Y-Your Majesty? Can you please wait for me…?” Gringore said as he followed right behind Siegfried. As usual, his presence was so low that Siegfried didn’t even notice that he was right behind him.
***
Siegfried’s party arrived at the nearest dimensional rift and started hunting.
Soon, Siegfried encountered what people called a wall.
[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]
[Alert: You need 56.6% Experience Points to level up!]
[Alert: You have gained experience points!]
[Alert: You need 56.6% Experience Points to level up!]
Siegfried was currently Level 203, and he was now at the level where hunting strong monsters wouldn’t increase his Experience Points by even the slightest bit.
The only silver lining was that his Experience Bar would increase by one percent if he were to hunt a mini-boss or a named monster.
This was the reason why high-level Adventurers were extremely afraid of dying.
“Ah… It’s really not going up…” Siegfried grumbled.
He had reached Level 201 back when he was an Elemental Mage, but it had been his limit. He couldn’t have imagined that the difference between Level 201 and Level 203 would be so huge, even though they were only two levels apart.
“I should look for a dungeon that’ll give more experience points…” he grumbled as they headed toward the center of the dungeon.
***
Three days later, Siegfried received his enhanced Gaia’s Fist from the head blacksmith of the Mercedes Workshop, Wilhelm.
[Alert: You have obtained +12 Gaia’s Fist!]
[Attack Power: 4,500 (+1,105)]
Gaia’s Fist enhanced twelve times possessed a whopping +1,105 bonus Attack Power.
‘This is awesome…! I have never even dreamt of owning a +12 weapon in my life. Wow, what if I smack a debuffed enemy with this?’ Siegfried thought while holding the +12 Gaia’s Fist. He was currently stewing in euphoria.
Perhaps he could finally defeat strong enemies in one hit, just like what Deus had told him…
“Do you like it?” Wilhelm asked.
“Absolutely… this is the best…” Siegfried replied with dazed eyes. He was only staring at the mace.
“I guarantee that you will love it even more once you start using it.”
“Yes, I’m sure I will. I’m sure I’ll love it…” Siegfried muttered while nodding.
“I shall see you out then. Please do not forget that our Mercedes Workshop is going to treat Your Majesty Siegfried as a VVIP client from now on.”
“Thank you very much.”
“Godspeed!”
Siegfried left the Mercedes Workshop with his new +12 Mythic weapon in hand.
‘It would have been better if they would enhance it twelve times no matter its enhancement level and with no questions asked…’ Siegfried calculated greedily and thought that his weapon could have been powerful enough to destroy galaxies if it were enhanced to +22.
He originally wanted to ask them to enhance it with the coupon once the weapon was already +10. Unfortunately, the coupon’s terms and conditions didn’t allow that to happen.
[1. This coupon may not be used on enhanced equipment.]
[2. This coupon will guarantee an equipment’s enhancement level until +12.]
The enhancement coupon itself was already destroying the balance of the game, so it only made sense for it to have so many restrictions.
‘I have to level up to survive! Just seven levels more!’ Siegfried could only think about reaching Level 210 as soon as he left the workshop. In other words, he still had to obtain seven more levels to finally be able to use the +12 Gaia’s Fist.
It was extremely difficult to farm Experience Points, but his thirst for Experience Points was only amplified after he obtained the +12 Gaia’s Fist.
Meanwhile, Siegfried saw a few demons testing their patience and greed. They were none other than the people trying their luck enhancing their equipment for the thirteenth time in front of the Mercedes Workshop Enhancement Machine One.
[Alert: The enhancement requested by Gilbro-nim has failed!]
[Alert: The item +12 Natural Force has been destroyed!]
[Alert: The enhancement requested by Horse King-nim has failed!]
[Alert: The item +12 Power Lifter has been destroyed!]
[Alert: The enhancement requested by Arnold Bro-nim has failed!]
[Alert: The item +12 Health Chain has been destroyed!]
No one knew for sure who was the first sacrifice that triggered this expensive chain of events, but there were already dozens of +12 items that had ended up turning into dust in the wind.
Unfortunately, an event like this wasn’t that uncommon. Adventurers with +11 and +12 equipment would just go crazy one day as if they had been bewitched by something, and they would try to enhance their equipment one more time.
They would be in a trance-like state, and they would strongly believe that everyone else’s items that had been destroyed during the enhancement process were offerings to the machine, and they were the chosen ones.
[Alert: The enhancement requested by Ryu Miho-nim has failed!]
[Alert: The item ‘+12 Mad Cat Claw’ has been destroyed!]
And that marked the twenty-third weapon that the machine had consumed and destroyed since Siegfried started watching the crazy Adventurers…
“Is it rigged?”
“The machine’s cursed!”
“Those Mercedes bastards! Are they fucking with us?! So many weapons went in, so does it make sense that everything was a bust?!”
“I think they tweaked the success rate…”
“It’s rigged! The machine’s rigged! We’re getting scammed!”
The situation got so bad that both the onlookers and the Adventurers started accusing the machine, saying that it was rigged. In fact, they started trolling by saying that the machine was rigged.
“I’m picking you~ Who are you~? You are scammchu~! Pika, pika, scam chu~!”
The onlookers who were here for fun were also in disbelief. They couldn’t believe that so many +12 weapons actually got destroyed in such a short period of time.
“Hey, does anyone else have a plus twelve equipment?”
“What about plus thirteen or fourteen? I think even a plus twenty is going to succeed with so many offerings!”
“Is nobody else going to step up? I think more than fifty pieces of equipment have been offered by now!”
It seemed that nobody was brave enough to step up. None of them seemed to be interested in becoming the victor or the fool in front of this particular enhancement machine.
Why?
It wasn’t that they were not interested. More specifically, those who were interested had already lost their equipment to the machine.
“Is there no one else? This is your chance to turn your life around! Just man up and try your luck! Think about how many offerings have been sacrificed! Your success has to be guaranteed by now!”
‘N-No, I must resist…! This is the first time I’m holding a +12 weapon… I can’t let this go to waste when I haven’t even used it yet… I mean, this is worth a few houses already. I’d rather just sell it and buy some houses instead of throwing it into that machine…’
Siegfried struggled and exerted superhuman self-control to resist temptation, but…
‘Huh…? What’s going on? Why am I standing in front of this machine…?’ he wondered after finding himself standing in front of the Mercedes Workshop Enhancement Machine One.
He was now standing face-to-face with the monster that had an insatiable appetite for +12 weapons.
‘Resist it… I must resist the urge… H-Huh? What’s going on…? Why is my hand moving on its own?!’ Siegfried tried his best to pull his hand back, but a voice whispered into his ears, ‘Think about how much equipment has been offered to this beast! A man must know when to take chances, and you also have the Triple Crown title. Three percent can make a huge difference! In other words, you have a three out of one hundred chance to succeed when others fail a hundred times. Let’s go!’
It was hard to tell whether being a man and being reckless had any connection with each other, but Siegfried found himself inserting his +12 Gaia’s Fist into the Mercedes Workshop Enhancement Machine One.
Woooong!
The machine vibrated vigorously...
Chik! Chik! Poof!
Chik! Chik! Fwoooooooosh!
The monster finally let out its final cry.
Flash!
The message announcing the fate of the +12 Gaia’s Fist popped up in front of Siegfried.
