On the crafting table lay a suit of armor and a blade.
Viktor gently placed his hand on the equipment, which shimmered under the lamplight.
A white glow slowly lit up from the surface.
Before his eyes, a line of extremely distinctive text popped up.
[Spend 500,000 Geo to enhance?]
Viktor's voice sounded calm.
"Enhance."
As his words fell, a mass of golden light surged out from his hand, drifting toward the equipment and slowly fusing with the steel.
The white glow began to change. The golden light gradually replaced the white, submerging the equipment like water filling a lake.
A blue panel appeared out of thin air before Viktor's eyes.
[Enhancement successful.]
He squinted slightly as he looked at the attribute columns of the equipment.
[Armor: Mostri Power Armor (Enhancement +5)]
[Effect: HP +3500, Defense +100, Elemental Resistance +35%]
[Skill: Wear Down, When attacked, the enemy's weapon wear rate increases by 50%]
[Weapon: Molten Iron Blade (Enhancement +5)]
[Effect: Attack +150, Fire Attribute Damage +30%, Attack Speed +40%]
[Skill: Flame Sword energy, Your attacks will carry an additional 20% fire attribute damage]
Equipment enhancement.
This was also a special ability available to players.
Enhancing equipment required certain conditions. For basic, ordinary equipment like this, the condition was spending a large amount of Geo.
Each piece of equipment could be enhanced up to five times.
The price increased with each enhancement, starting at 100,000 Geo, increasing by another 100,000 after every enhancement.
Until the final enhancement cost 500,000 Geo.
But if, after reaching the five-time enhancement limit, the player still wanted to continue enhancing, Viktor raised his head. The panel appeared again before his eyes.
[Spend 1,000,000 Geo to evolve weapon, Warning: This enhancement may fail. If it fails, enhancement count will be reset to zero.]
"Enhance."
Viktor did not hesitate, calmly stating his decision.
As his words fell, a beam of golden light surged from his hand, transforming into an enormous golden hammer that slammed down hard onto the already small workbench.
In an instant, golden light reflected off the steel, and flames began to burn across the equipment.
At this moment, the armor in front of him became incredibly compact, like a skeleton, while the steel turned sharp and vividly lustrous.
The bone-like spikes embedded around the armor made it look even more intimidating.
[Armor: Mostri's Unyielding Will]
[Effect: HP +5500, Defense +200, All Resistances +50%]
[Skill: Unyielding Thorns, When attacked, the enemy's weapon wear rate increases by 80%, and 30% of the damage from this attack is reflected]
After evolution, the armor had completely reached its peak and could no longer be further enhanced by players.
Viktor set it aside and turned his gaze to the blade.
Text appeared again before his eyes as Viktor calmly placed his hand on the blade.
But the instant he touched it, the golden light became unstable.
The glow gradually dimmed, and then wisps of black smoke rose from the equipment.
Viktor narrowed his eyes, as if he had already expected this outcome.
Enhancement failed.
When evolution failed, the equipment's enhancement values were reset to zero.
Which meant the 1.5 million Geo he had previously invested into this weapon had all gone down the drain.
Vega stood nearby, watching the golden light constantly radiate from Viktor's palm, clicking his tongue in amazement.
He could clearly sense that the equipment bathed in that golden light had become much stronger.
"I'm really curious, what kind of power is this, exactly?"
"The power of money."
Viktor replied casually, watching the Geo balance in his account plummet rapidly, with little emotion stirring in his heart.
To a power-leveling professional, in-game currency was nothing more than a string of numbers.
Being able to turn those numbers into real strength was what truly mattered.
Besides, this money had been extorted for free anyway.
No reason to feel bad about it.
But after the first successful armor evolution, his luck started to turn sour.
He evolved it again and again, Geo flowing away like a rushing stream.
After wasting nearly thirty million Geo, he finally managed to craft a successfully evolved longsword.
Viktor watched the blade as the golden light slowly dissipated, then picked it up.
On the straight sword body, slanted spikes appeared on both sides. Mysterious golden runes were embedded into the blade, as if some extremely special being were roaring within.
The runes began to emit a faint glow. Starting from the base of the blade, red light gradually spread across the steel.
[Weapon: Wrath of the Fire God]
[Effect: Attack +300, Fire Attribute Damage +50%, Attack Speed +60%]
[Skill: Fury, Your attacks will carry an additional 50% fire attribute damage. After a certain charge time, you may release up to one sword energy, dealing 400% of this attack's damage]
"Not bad."
Viktor examined it for a moment, then loosened his grip. The blade vanished rapidly in midair and was stored in his inventory.
There were still a full hundred pieces of equipment left, piled up in the corner like a small mountain.
Viktor had only evolved two pieces. If all the remaining equipment were to be evolved, the required Geo would be astronomical.
Not to mention, a single failure would mean total waste.
Quit while ahead.
Viktor tapped the air with his finger and stored the two pieces of equipment into his inventory.
"Next, it's time to test their power."
He turned and walked outside. Vega quickly flapped his wings and landed on his shoulder.
The heavy wooden door of the basement creaked open, then slammed shut.
A dull echo reverberated throughout the underground room.
———
Darkness. Nothing but darkness.
A small stone-built room, without even a single lamp lit.
Elsa, sleeping deep within the darkness, leaned against the bed, her eyes hollow, her head lowered.
As if she had completely lost consciousness.
It had already been three days since she left the Lesser family.
During these three days, Elsa had remained in this state.
Whenever she recalled the war magic released by Viktor, her body would begin trembling uncontrollably.
That horrifying scene of slaughter would vividly replay before her eyes.
The door slowly opened, and a beam of light shot in from outside, illuminating Elsa's pale and haggard face.
After not seeing sunlight for so long, she instinctively raised her hand to shield her eyes.
Pain flooded her vision.
Gradually adjusting to the light, she saw the person walking into the room.
Clang!
Two crisp sounds rang out as metal struck stone.
Two pieces of equipment were tossed onto the ground.
Elsa slowly lowered her head, staring at the armor and blade lying there, her mind in a daze.
Back when she was with the Lesser family, she had seen that armor.
It was crafted from parts dropped by a rare monster known as Mostri.
She also recognized the other blade.
Forged from rare molten iron found within volcanoes, its power was not to be underestimated.
These extremely precious pieces of equipment had all been prepared for the Lesser family's expedition team.
Looking at them, Elsa knew very well that the Lesser family had agreed to compensate Viktor.
"Put it on. Pick up the weapon."
The familiar cold voice sounded. Elsa numbly stood up and, in front of Viktor, cleanly removed the cloth armor wrapped around her body.
She paid no attention to the skin she exposed, bent down, easily put on the armor, and picked up the blade.
The moment she put on the armor, she felt an extremely powerful force surge into her body.
This wasn't reasonable.
If this equipment had been brought from the Lesser family, it shouldn't have given the user such an obvious boost in power.
She couldn't quite believe it, but her body's sensations wouldn't lie.
Viktor quietly watched the level and HP above Elsa's head.
[Lv41]
The effect was obvious.
This equipment had greatly increased her health.
What Elsa was wearing now were ordinary armor and weapons that had been enhanced to the extreme.
Still, Viktor was more interested in seeing Elsa perform in actual combat.
So he looked at her and said, "Don't you want to see Cindy?"
The moment she heard that, Elsa slowly raised her head and looked at Viktor.
In her hollow eyes, a hint of movement finally appeared.
"Then come with me."
As his words fell, Viktor left the small house.
Elsa hurried to follow. The armor she wore caused her no real hindrance.
On the contrary, she felt her body become much lighter.
She followed behind Viktor, her gaze inevitably drifting to the back of his neck.
The Viktor in front of her seemed completely undefended…
An idea couldn't help but form in Elsa's mind.
If she attacked him now… Could she succeed?
Once that thought appeared, it refused to go away.
She was wearing extremely powerful battle armor.
The sharp blade in her hand granted her unimaginable strength.
If she launched a sneak attack now, it would definitely work.
Because he was just a mage, and at such close range, a mage couldn't withstand an assassin of the same level.
Couldn't withstand… really?
Suddenly, Elsa recalled the scene of her fight with Viktor.
In close combat, she had been completely crushed.
She hadn't seen even the slightest hope of Viktory.
The thought that had just arisen vanished without a trace.
At some point, Viktor had utterly shattered all of her confidence.
Even if she now possessed great power, even if the opportunity was right in front of her, she would still think... Viktor was only deliberately exposing a flaw.
Or perhaps, he simply didn't care about her sneak attack at all.
He was strong. Unreasonably strong.
Even if she really attacked first, Viktor would probably deal with it effortlessly.
Elsa completely lost the desire to act.
She lowered her head and continued following behind Viktor.
And yet, at the moment she lowered her head, she failed to notice, the gaze of that pitch-black raven was watching her at every moment.
[T/N: 🎊 HAPPY NEW YEAR chaps! 🎊 May this year be Healthy and Productive for you! Enjoy~]