Chapter 262
The tour group finally passed through the heavy iron gates of Stormbreak Castle. The noise of the city settled into a steady, rhythmic hum, replaced by the quiet discipline of the inner courtyard.
Rudra rested the heavy, dark metal shaft of Extortion across his shoulder. He chewed on a piece of dried fruit, looking over his newly formed guild members. Red, Galahad, Echo, and a few others were currently working in the fields across the city, suffering through Piaro's unique brand of stamina conditioning.
The remaining guild members gathered near the center of the castle courtyard. Cecilia, Gold, Tara, and the other rankers all looked a bit numb. The sheer scale of Stormbreak's infrastructure was a lot to process in one afternoon.
Cecilia adjusted her tailored coat. The top-tier merchant crossed her arms and stared intently at Rudra's staff.
"I need to ask," Cecilia said, pointing a manicured finger at the weapon. "You're the top-ranked player on the server. You are a Staff Saint and apparently you also have a legendary second class. You also govern an entire territory where you are the Duke. So why doesn't your staff have an aura?"
Rudra glanced at the dark metal. "What do you mean?"
"The enhancement glow," Cecilia clarified. "Any weapon upgraded to plus six gains a blue aura. Yours is just plain metal. Are you seriously running around with unenhanced gear?"
Tara, the 5th-ranked blacksmith, stepped closer and squinted at Rudra’s attire. Her eyes widened in sudden realization. "Wait. Look at his other armors. Look at the boots, gloves and the coat. None of it is glowing. At all."
The other guild members leaned in, suddenly noticing the lack of visual effects. Absolute shock rippled through the group. For high-level players, walking around with +0 gear was basically a crime. Items had a very high success rate up to +5, meaning there was barely any difference in price or appearance between a +0 and a +5 item. But pushing past that threshold was where the real stats lived. The fact that the global Rank 1 player simply wasn't using the enhancement system defied all common sense when even newbie players usually at least enhance their items to +5.
Rudra pulled the staff off his shoulder and tapped it against the cobblestones.
"The thing is, it bothers me when things are incomplete," Rudra said. "If I enhance it to plus seven and run out of Enhancement Stones, the +7 will just annoy me as I would always know that I could have reached +10 but I quit or something. So I didn’t enhance anything until I had enough enhancement stones to push me all the way to ultimate enhancement in one sitting."
Tara let out a short, breathless laugh. "Push it to plus ten? Do you know the failure rates on those upper tiers are 99.9%? Not a single person has ever reached +10 enhancement till now. You'd need a literal mountain of Enhancement Stones."
"I know, but you seem to forget, I have accomplished quite a few things that no one else has done so far," Rudra said as he slowly got up.
He walked over to a sturdy stone table sitting idle near the edge of the training grounds.
Rudra opened his inventory. He tilted his hand and simply dumped his hoarded stash directly onto the stone.
A loud, heavy clatter filled the courtyard.
A massive pile of glowing, magical stones tumbled over the table. There were around 450 Weapon Enhancement Stones, 800 Armor Enhancement Stones, 50 Blessed Weapon Enhancement Stones, and 150 Blessed Armor Enhancement Stones. They stacked up into a shining, multi-colored mound that practically illuminated the courtyard.
Cecilia stopped breathing.
Her merchant instincts hijacked her brain. She stared at the pile, her eyes darting over the sheer volume of high-tier enhancement materials. Ordinary Enhancement Stones were expensive enough, but Blessed Enhancement Stones were priced at ten to twelve times the cost of ordinary ones.
She did the calculations in her head, factoring in the current auction house market rates and the real-world currency exchange.
"Five million dollars in liquid assets, left sitting on a table," Cecilia muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose. To the heir of a global shipping empire that moved billions of dollars daily, the monetary value itself wasn't intimidating. But the sheer, unhinged financial inefficiency of gambling it all on a brutal probability curve just to make an item glow was giving her a severe migraine.
In the background, standing near the manor doors, Silas was watching. The young Viscount had stepped outside for some fresh air. He saw the glowing pile of Enhancement Stones. He saw the Duke stretching his fingers.
Silas’s face turned the color of chalk. He grabbed his golden abacus with both hands. His thumb flicked the beads aggressively, calculating the gross domestic product currently being used as poker chips. He leaned heavily against an oak pillar, looking physically pained.
"Alright," Rudra said, cracking his knuckles. "Let's get this over with."
Before he touched his gear, Rudra picked up one of the glowing Blessed Weapon Enhancement Stones, and then a Blessed Armor Enhancement Stone.
[Blessed Weapon Enhancement Stones]
[A magic stone used to enhance weapons.
The successful enhancement of a weapon will increase the enhancement value by +1~+3.
The failed enhancement of a weapon will decrease the enhancement value by -1.
Weight: 20]
[Blessed Armor Enhancement Stones]
[A magic stone used to enhance Armor.
The successful enhancement of a Armor will increase the enhancement value by +1~+3.
The failed enhancement of a Armor will decrease the enhancement value by -1.
Weight: 20]
Directly using them would be a bit of a waste, so he thought about the plan to manufacture them himself..
"[Legendary Sage’s Eyes]," Rudra murmured as his eyes started glowing.
His vision immediately turned colourful as he was able to clearly see the flow of mana around him. He was able to see the internal structure of the weapon stone. The system mapped the intricate, highly compressed alchemical matrix housed inside the mineral. He watched the mana flow, as he was provided the details regarding the way the weapon stone was supposed to increase the effectiveness of his weapons.
[Understanding of the Blessed Weapon Enhancement Stone’s structure is increasing...]
[Understanding: 10%...]
[Understanding: 20%.]
….
[Understanding: 100%]
[You have acquired the Unique alchemical formula: Blessed Weapon Enhancement Stone.]
[Alchemical Formula: Blessed Weapons Enhancement Stone]
[Rating: Unique]
[A complex alchemical product that enhances the weapons and failure of enhancement will cause minimal damage.
Required Ingredients:
- 1x Weapon Enhancement Stone
- 3x Vials of Concentrated Holy Water
- 1x Pulverized High-Tier Monster Core
Condition of Learning: Advanced Alchemy Level 2 or more.]
[Endless Learning has been successfully triggered.]
[You have acquired Unique Knowledge!]
[All Stats +3, Wisdom +5!]
Rudra didn't stop. He immediately shifted his focus to the armor stone, tracking the slightly different density of the magical structure.
[Understanding of the Blessed Armor Enhancement Stone’s structure is increasing...]
[Understanding: 10%...]
[Understanding: 20%.]
….
[Understanding: 100%]
[You have acquired the Unique alchemical formula: Blessed Armor Enhancement Stone.]
[Alchemical Formula: Blessed Armor Enhancement Stone]
[Rating: Unique]
[A complex alchemical product that enhances the armor and failure of enhancement will cause minimal damage.
Required Ingredients:
- 1x Armor Enhancement Stone
- 3x Vials of Concentrated Holy Water
- 1x Pulverized High-Tier Monster Core
Condition of Learning: Advanced Alchemy Level 2 or more.]
[Endless Learning has been successfully triggered.]
[You have acquired Unique Knowledge!]
[All Stats +3, Wisdom +5!]
"[Knight Summon]," Rudra called silently.