Chapter 8 - Enhancement is All About the Location (1)

　　1.

　　“What, what is this?”

　　—"Excuse me?”

　　He had no time to spare for Jeong Seolah. This was no time to be mesmerized by her ear-tickling voice.

　　“Just a moment. I’ll call you back in a bit.”

　　—"Mr. Simin…?”

　　He cut the connection without another word and stared at the system messages. The message about an impossible probability and the word he never wanted to hear: balance. The job and rewards he received after that didn’t even register. Nothing else mattered.

　　“N-no way.”

　　The moment he was nerfed, or the moment something went wrong with his ability, his life in Fantastic World would be over. He had naively thought it would be fine as long as other players didn’t find out!

　　Betago is insane. Is its AI really this advanced?

　　A groan escaped him. In hindsight, it was strange that he hadn’t anticipated this. It was a preconception, perhaps. He knew that AI had already surpassed humans in computation and was active in various fields, yet he had subconsciously thought of the AIs he usually encountered in games and paid it no mind.

　　Ah. I should have failed a few times on purpose.

　　That was his mistake. There was no way the AI Betago could have detected his ability. It was a spiritual power from the real world that even he couldn’t understand. The strange poses he made during enhancement would have been judged by the information-gathering AI as a player’s personal good-luck charm.

　　But the results were different. He had far surpassed what was statistically probable. From his very first enhancement to +10, and then his next one also succeeding from +10 to +12 in one go. If you calculated the odds of succeeding consecutively like that, it was far lower than the success rate of a single +15 enhancement. And he had pulled it off.

　　It wasn’t strange for the AI to take such measures. Betago was the creator and operator of Fantastic World. It must have judged that he had committed an act that severely damaged the game’s balance. If he could mass-produce +15 items at will, regardless of the conditions, the game would be labeled a failure right after its launch, and they might even have to shut down the servers.

　　“Haah.”

　　The problem was what came next. He couldn’t undo what had already been done. As a mere player, Han Simin didn’t have the power to do so. Perhaps he should just be grateful that his account hadn’t been deleted. It was like a card counter at a casino; even if it was their individual ability, from the casino’s perspective, it was an unacceptable logic.

　　“Please…”

　　He was afraid to check his character information. Forget the Legendary job; the pressure of knowing that Betago had noticed his ability and placed some kind of restriction on him was immense. Whatever it was, one thing was certain: things would be different from when he could succeed at enhancements without any conditions.

　　“Character information.”

　　He cautiously summoned the hologram. The only small comfort was that Betago had deemed it un-analyzable and chosen an alternative measure.

　　[Character Information]

　　* Name: Simin

　　* Job: Ultimate Legendary Enhancement Master

　　* Sub-job: X

　　* Titles: 2

　　* Level: 2 (Required EXP +200%)

　　* Stats (5): STR (10+15) AGI (10+15) VIT (10+15) LUK (50+15) INT (10+15)

　　* Skills: Enhancement (F), Absolute Enhancement (SS)

　　He checked his skills without hesitation.

　　[Absolute Enhancement (SS): Passive]

　　* Description: A special sense unique to the enhancement masters who existed in legends. Allows you to feel the way to increase the enhancement probability.

　　“Huh?”

　　His tension momentarily eased. Just checking that one skill was enough to make him sigh in relief. Not much had changed. There was no mana cost, and his previously abstract ability had simply been materialized within the game under the name of a skill.

　　This isn’t a nerf, is it?

　　Far from a nerf, he felt an urge to hug and kiss Betago. Only then did his eyes fall on the Legendary job.

　　“Is it encouraging me to use it openly?”

　　The fact that other players would cry for a nerf if they found out remained unchanged. But now, he had something to say for himself.

　　“This is amazing.”

　　A secret war and a war with a just cause are on completely different levels. Han Simin immediately placed the dagger back on the anvil.

　　“Here we go.”

　　For whatever reason, if Betago had given him this benefit, it was only right to accept it with open arms! In a life where you never know when you’ll die, what’s the point of doubting and worrying? He felt like there were a few important holograms he hadn’t checked, but he cleanly ignored them. Currently, reaching +15 was the priority.

　　I’ll just make one more and then hold back for a bit.

　　After all, his goal was to level up.

　　“Haah.”

　　He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. And he felt it.

　　It will succeed. It will succeed.

　　When he did this, he could feel it. His supernatural power had never once betrayed him since the accident.

　　“…Huh?”

　　But now was the first time.

　　He didn’t do something foolish like opening his eyes to see if something was wrong and then concentrating again. The evidence was clear enough. And though he couldn’t feel it right now, his senses were still intact. However.

　　…You’re kidding me.

　　His senses weren’t demanding a specific pose and time from him as usual. A location! Follow the feeling! That’s what his intuition was telling him.

　　“Interesting.”

　　Han Simin took the dagger off the anvil and smiled. So this is how it was going to be? He could roughly picture it. An un-analyzable ability, an immeasurable influence. But they couldn’t just sanction a paying player’s account simply because it was strange. In the end, they had guided him in a direction where they could control that ability to some extent.

　　“Nothing’s changed really. Hehe.”

　　As he played the game, his level would rise, and once he hit the max level, there would be no place he couldn’t go. The difficulty had risen a bit, but if he could enhance without anxiety, it was a price he could fully accept.

　　“A Legendary job and a decently enhanced item should be enough for leveling.”

　　He would make up for his lack of control with items! Just by equipping the +12 dagger, hadn’t he received a stat boost equivalent to gaining 15 levels?

　　“Time to hunt.”

　　The corners of his mouth crept up unconsciously. An expression of his twisted desires!

　　“You arrogant rabbit bastards. I’m coming for you.”

　　He roughly swiped away the remaining bothersome holograms and left the enhancement shop. The Legendary job penalty flashed across his retina, but he let it pass without a thought. He didn’t want to accept reality.

　　2.

　　What’s going on?

　　Jeong Seolah’s expression was complicated as she walked through Haran Castle with confident strides that drew the attention of those around her. She was heading outside the castle walls. After seeing the announcement that the beginner’s dagger had been successfully enhanced to +12, she had contacted Han Simin, only for him to cut her off, saying something was urgent. She had gone all the way to the enhancement shop to meet him, but was told he had already left to go hunting.

　　He said he’d call me back.

　　This was the part that puzzled her. Why on earth had Han Simin suddenly ended the conversation and not called her back?

　　Is he trying to raise his price?

　　Of course, the real reason was that he had simply forgotten. To Han Simin, Jeong Seolah was still nothing more than a pretty girl he had passed by. Faced with a critical issue concerning his livelihood, the fact that she had called him was quickly forgotten. Unaware of this, Jeong Seolah was busy pondering. Since this was something she had never experienced before, her thoughts ran even deeper.

　　He didn’t seem like it, but he’s a man who knows his own value…

　　The Han Simin that Jeong Seolah had seen was just an immature young man. But as her imagination ran wild, he was reborn as a man wearing a mask, one who understood the value of his profession and knew how to act rationally.

　　I have to recruit him.

　　Whatever kind of man he was, as a player, he was the first and possibly only enhancement master. A player who, upon starting the game, had bizarrely sought out an enhancement shop and learned one of the rarest skills on the continent. It didn’t matter that he was shabby and low-level. What mattered was his value to Jeong Seolah’s elite team! Above all, hadn’t she witnessed Han Simin’s unbelievable luck?

　　A +12…

　　A 1% chance was no different from being told to just use a +11. In fact, in the game MapleStory, which was famous for its enhancement system, there was a case where the success rate after +22 dropped sharply from 30% to 3%, so all players just stuck with +22 weapons. There were cases where a few players who were quitting or felt life was boring would throw caution to the wind and succeed, but a continuous streak of luck like this was unheard of.

　　That’s why she had to get him.

　　A player who could enhance whenever and wherever he wanted. What if his job’s effect added to the enhancement probability, or if he was just naturally lucky? Even if not, the Han Simin she had judged was a player who knew how to enhance. Like those artisans who streamed themselves doing enhancement content in countless online games! Those who knew how to break through the set probabilities and create the best results! If she could recruit someone like that, her foothold for getting ahead of others would be even stronger.

　　I need to meet him and talk more.

　　Jeong Seolah was a woman who knew how to go after what she wanted without hesitation. To do that, she first had to find where Han Simin was hunting. Since he was still a beginner, he was probably hunting rabbits at best, but Haran Castle was so large that it would take a while just to look around the vicinity. Her dilemma was surprisingly solved easily.

　　“Hey, hey, that guy from earlier. That was the guy from the announcement, right?”

　　“The +12 beginner’s dagger? Probably? The effect was insane.”

　　“How can the effect be so clear from a distance where you can barely even make out the person’s shape?”

　　“It’s +12, man. So freaking cool.”

　　“But why is a guy like that wearing beginner’s clothes? Shouldn’t he be wearing at least leather armor?”

　　“Who knows. He must be rolling in money. How many items do you have to break to get a +12?”

　　“I know, right? I was reading some posts about enhancement on the community forums, and it said one attempt costs 1 gold coin and 50 silver.”

　　“Wow. He’s a total psycho.”

　　The conversation of two passing players was about the man she was looking for.

　　She went up to them. “Excuse me.”

　　The two men looked at each other.

　　“Us?”

　　“May I ask you something?”

　　The two men were stunned.

　　Though Jeong Seolah’s face was expressionless, her charm was unapproachable. Naturally, the two men’s jaws dropped.

　　“Ask us anything!”

　　“If you need money, I’ll give you my entire fortune!”

　　Han Simin’s location on the vast plains was quickly pinpointed in her mind.

* * *

　　Once she knew which direction he was in, finding Han Simin wasn’t that difficult.

　　“Wow. Awesome.”

　　“Look at that effect.”

　　“That’s crazy.”

　　“That’s +12? Just how flashy are +13 and +14 going to be?”

　　“The monsters will probably piss themselves and run away just from seeing the effect.”

　　Even people who were hunting would stop to watch, and he was flaunting an effect so flashy and beautiful that it stood out even from a distance. Unlike the players who watched for a moment and left, Jeong Seolah headed toward the source of the light. A few other players were approaching to watch or with other intentions, but the closer she got to Han Simin, the number of players noticeably decreased. The reason why, despite looking like a complete newbie who would be perfect to scam, became clear soon enough.

　　“Mr. Citizen…”

　　“Hahahaha! Come here, you little cuties. Die! You bastards!”

　　Thwack!

　　“Aargh! You son of a… you’re dead. Get over here.”

　　Han Simin was speechless.

　　Just as the few remaining gazes were about to turn from Han Simin to Jeong Seolah, who had called out his name, she turned her back.

* * *