One week since the transmigration.
The rankers were making progress in leveling up, each at their own pace.
There was Archer, who had fallen out with his partner and thus couldn't make proper progress, and there were transmigrators who were frantically trying to manage their high-difficulty characters. For instance, the Paladin, who was knocking on the priest's door every single night.
While some rankers were struggling like that...
There were also rankers who had easily settled into a stable routine, already frequenting small-scale dungeons and rapidly leveling up.
Among them, the Wizard and the Thief coincidentally ran into each other in the same dungeon.
Thwack! The Thief's dagger plunged deep into the body of a two-tailed lizard monster.
Crash! A light electrical spell crackled and struck down upon it.
> ['Thief' has defeated 1 'Two-Tailed Lizard'. EXP +100]
"Whoops."
The Thief awkwardly mimed scratching his hood-covered head.
The Wizard silently stared at the Thief before pulling back the tip of his staff, which was emitting a small wisp of smoke, as if nothing had happened.
The Thief belonged to the Holy State of Venaro, and the Wizard hailed from the island nation of Caseria. In other words, under normal circumstances in the game's world, there was no way these two would ever cross paths.
They were only able to see each other face-to-face like this because they had entered a mini-dungeon.
"Uh... Holding up okay?"
He had unexpectedly run into someone he’d only exchanged a few words with in the chat window. Feeling a bit awkward, the Thief asked out of courtesy.
The Wizard slightly raised his eyes, which were hidden beneath his robe.
"I'm getting by."
It was impossible to tell if he was being modest, sarcastic, or just defensive.
The Wizard's partner was a fellow mage: the Lord of the Magic Tower. Possessing authority, power, and wealth, it was practically the best career path among all the characters.
It was so advantageous that his penalty was being the only character barred from participating in "regular dungeons."
By choosing the Lord of the Magic Tower, he couldn't play through the eight large-scale dungeons and had to grind out his remaining levels exclusively through these mini-dungeons and personal farming.
The Wizard simply walked away, his long robes rustling against the ground. The Thief considered just letting him go, but the beautiful silver staff the Wizard was holding caught his eye.
He trotted after him, showing interest in the staff.
"You already got a weapon? Did you enhance it, too?"
"……."
Well, there was no way he'd answer a competitor so obediently. The Wizard ignored him and kept walking.
Another lizard monster appeared in the grass over there. The tip of the Wizard's staff smoothly aimed in its direction.
Crash! An electrical spell shot out with considerable force.
The Thief was certain. This wealthy transmigrator had definitely tried weapon enhancement.
"That enhancement... Doesn't the success rate only go up if your Life skill level is high?"
Three types of professions popped into the Thief's mind: Farmer, Fisher, and Miner.
He also remembered when he first started the game and had to pick 'Miner', swinging a pickaxe for a long time despite finding it annoying to death.
In Tower of Collapse, enhancements and Life professions were closely linked. The game's system forced even the emperor-tier rankers into rice paddies, seaports, and mines, places they would never otherwise belong.
If someone with a Level 0 Life skill attempted to enhance a weapon from +10 to +11, the success rate was a mere 2%.
However, if someone with a Life level over 10 tried it, the "Dexterity Bonus +3%" effect would raise the chance to 5%.
Moreover, the chance of the weapon breaking upon failure was drastically reduced.
It wasn't a feature you could just abandon because it was annoying. Life skill was mandatory in Tower of Collapse.
However, since you could easily reach Level 10 after about a week of grinding, stopping there wasn't usually an issue.
But right now, none of them even had that "Level 10."
"Wow... You have to enhance without any Life levels? Your weapon is going to blow up so easily. What are you going to do?"
Unlike the Thief, who was already agonizing over it, the Wizard showed no particular emotion.
"I have no choice but to invest heavily."
Basically the equivalent of a modern-day real estate tycoon, he spoke as flatly as if it were someone else's problem.
---
At 8 PM that evening, the Thief was the first to speak in the chat again.
[Thief]: Good evening.
[Thief]: Has anyone tried enhancing yet?
At that time, Archer was preparing to level up according to the game's story.
‘I have no choice. I'll have to get ahead of Calain and snatch the EXP he’s supposed to eat.’
In Calain's route, there were many vicious Hunter villains perfectly suited for Calain to devour for EXP.
Scum who, instead of using their Hunter powers to help people, committed all sorts of evil deeds like extorting and exploiting the weak. Archer had been absolutely furious, foaming at the mouth, during a scene where a trash villain kidnapped a child and demanded ransom from the parents.
‘If it's a guy like that... I might be able to close my eyes and kill him. Yeah, let's practice killing.’
‘How about getting a job at the prison...? If there's a Hunter among the captured criminals, I can kill them. If they're on death row for capital crimes anyway, I might as well do it instead of someone else and get the EXP. As for my mental state, well... I'll just have to get over it.’
He realized anew just how advantageous Calain's position was. Calain was a sworn knight of the kingdom, occasionally tasked with punishing criminals and carrying out executions.
Furthermore, the Demihaad Kingdom ostracized Hunters, to the point of imposing heavier sentences on them compared to normal criminals.
Calain wasn't a partner; he was a competitor.
‘I need to build up my own strength first... All because of that damn Predation penalty.’
Even if there was a Hunter to kill, it was useless if he wasn't stronger than them. He had to meet the conditions for the Predation ability.
‘I need to devour Hunters to get stronger, but I need to be strong to devour Hunters?’
It was the absolute pinnacle of absurdity and contradiction. Honestly, he thought it wasn't an overpowered ability at all, but pure garbage.
After briefly smacking his head over his hopeless situation, Archer cleared his cloudy eyes and focused on the chat window.
[Bard]: Good evening.
[Bard]: Are you talking about the weapon enhancements from the game?
[Bard]: I did notice the enhancement window pop up when I picked up my violin and flute earlier.
[Thief]: Ahahaha right, you're the bard.
[Thief]: So did you try enhancing them?
[Bard]: No. They belong to the theater troupe, so it would be a problem if I stole them.
[Bard]: It's a huge issue. Finding instruments will probably be more expensive than getting a sword.
[Bard]: I don't even have money to buy a weapon, let alone enhance one.
[Thief]: LMAO what are you gonna do?
Archer had no time to worry about the Bard's situation. He was deep in thought.
First off, the old bow he was currently holding seemed to be too low-level to even trigger the enhancement feature. That was how it worked in the game, too.
So, if he found a decent bow and enhanced it, his own personal combat power would increase.
‘This is advantageous for the Predation ability!’
If he had an enhanced weapon, the System would evaluate him as a stronger Hunter.
In other words, even if his base Hunter stats were a bit low, possessing a highly enhanced weapon could give him a superior comprehensive evaluation.
[Fighter]: I tried enhancing once.
[Fighter]: I failed at +3, you know?
[Fighter]: Lol... the success rate...
[Fighter]: Since we don't have Life skills at all...
[Puppeteer]: You mean we just have to enhance with those low odds?
[Alchemist]: That's ridiculous.
Since everyone equally lacked a Life skill level, you could say it was fair...
‘Wait a minute.’
Archer remembered someone he had briefly forgotten. One transmigrator who didn't exist in this chat.
That guy's class... was a Life profession.
"Huh?"
And he was the only one who knew of Heean's existence.
Archer's eyes glinted opaquely before returning to normal. Archer imagined it:
Kidnapping Heean, locking him in a room, and making him do nothing but enhance his weapons...
---
Today was the day the five-day market opened in the nearby village.
I headed out in the early morning breeze, picking out fresh vegetables and salted meat faster than anyone else.
"This mushroom is bruised. Here, don't you see it?"
"Sheesh, making a fuss over that. Just cook and eat it right away, and it’s perfectly fine!"
"It is a problem. Throw in one more of these to make up for it."
"You look young, but you're quite shrewd. Fine, take it!"
"Thanks, have a good one."
I stubbornly managed to score an extra clump of brown mushrooms. The merchant grumbled, but he still carefully counted the coins he received from me.
I might not know how to hunt a deer, but I had all the market prices in every city memorized perfectly.
No matter what merchant tried to rip me off, seeing as I clearly looked like an outsider, I wasn't going to be fooled.
They'd better fold up any thoughts of overcharging me and put them away.
‘I bought protein and fiber. Now, calcium...’
As I headed deeper into the village to buy milk and cheese, I felt a gaze staring at me from somewhere.
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