#4. Enhancement
Today, I slept in as usual and woke up in the afternoon.
[Trial Tower #2661 (1/1)]
I had expected at least one person to come by the third day, but once again, I was alone in the tower.
It wasn't really a problem yet since there was nothing requiring a party, but do newbies generally not come often?
I opened a community chat to check how many newbies enter other servers. It seems there's a big difference between servers.
Some say that on busy days, over a hundred newbies might enter in one day, but when it's slow, there might be no new arrivals for almost a month.
In our country, given the population relative to the number of towers, there weren't really long gaps like that.
So, no one showing up for three days isn't all that unusual. They'll come when the time is right.
"Then, for today… let's start with enhancement."
I ordered a 200G breakfast at the inn to start my day, then went to the town blacksmith.
The Trial Tower is structured similarly to an RPG game. The system of using materials to enhance weapons and armor is much the same.
[Steel Longsword]
Attack Power +35 (Slash)Critical Damage: x2.0Durability 200/200Enhancement Attempts Available: 5
These are the stats of my current [Steel Longsword]. Since it's a shop-bought weapon, there's no equipment restriction.
Attack power indicates the weapon's base strength, and the word in parentheses (Slash) indicates the attack type.
Slash means the weapon's full power only applies on slashing attacks. If this were a hammer, it would say (Blunt).
Different attack types have different additional effects; for example, Slash type can inflict bleed damage with some probability.
Below that, critical damage shows how much damage is amplified when a critical hit occurs, like when I fought the goblins yesterday.
Since it's x2.0, it roughly means double damage, though in the community, people warn not to rely solely on the numbers.
Even criticals can vary in strength depending on where they hit. Of course, a higher number is always better.
Durability is self-explanatory. At zero, it breaks—steel or mithril alike.
The most important stat, however, is at the bottom: Enhancement Attempts Available.
Every weapon can only be enhanced as many times as this number allows.
"Welcome! How can I help you?"
I approached the blacksmith, who spoke without emotion, and handed over my [Steel Longsword].
The [Steel Longsword] can be enhanced 5 times. Each failure still counts as an attempt, so successfully reaching +5 isn't easy.
Base enhancement success rate is 50%, so the chance of succeeding five times in a row is only about 3%. I've rarely beaten odds like that in my life.
But it's fine. I have an enormous stock of enhancement materials from yesterday.
Using extra materials during enhancement increases the success chance. With the maximum materials, the success rate goes up to 90%.
Unless I'm extremely unlucky, I'm guaranteed at least four successes. I fed in the materials and pressed the enhance button.
Of course, I chose the [Sharpness] option to boost attack power, and the result was…
[+5 Steel Longsword]
Attack Power +65 (Slash)Critical Damage: x2.0Durability 200/200Enhancement Attempts Available: 0
A clean +5 enhancement—even for a shop-bought weapon, its performance now rivals many boss-drop items.
I still have more than enough materials left. I immediately maxed out all my armor enhancements as well.
Seo Jin-Hyuk Lv.14 (Unemployed)HP: 260/260MP: 175/175Strength: 20 (14+6)Agility: 16 (14+2)Endurance: 20 (14+6)Intelligence: 14
Even just from equipment enhancement, my stats changed noticeably. Considering attack power not shown in the stat window, my effective level is over 20.
Obviously, this isn't something achievable by the third day normally. I captured my equipment and stat windows and uploaded them to the community.
"Haha, chaos!"
I couldn't help but grin at the furious reactions of the community ghosts.
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But the fact remains: my third day hasn't even really started.
With enhancement done, it's time to grind levels in the labyrinth again.
***
I haven't changed class, so I have no skills, but that's no problem for labyrinth hunting.
Yesterday, I could massacre ordinary goblins without issue, so today I challenged higher monsters like Goblin Soldiers and Goblin Lieutenants.
As expected for higher monsters, their movements were very different from normal goblins, but being fast and agile isn't a problem.
"Uryaap!"
-Swoosh!
One swing of my +5 [Steel Longsword] decapitated a goblin soldier.
Two goblin soldiers in the back hurled spears, but my shield—[World Rabbit Compendium]—easily blocked them.
Actually, I didn't even need to lift my shield. Armor and shield bonuses are always active.
Just as weapon attack power more than doubled through enhancement, my defense, with armor enhanced piece by piece, is now four times higher than before.
-Thunk!
The Goblin Lieutenant behind the soldiers charged like a bullet with an axe, but it felt like hitting a pillow.
"What are you doing? Come at me!"
I shouted and charged at the goblins. A body slam knocked down two goblins at once.
I slashed the fallen goblins with my sword, and they died instantly, giving me experience.
Goblin Lieutenants look like ordinary goblins but are much stronger, making them notorious for killing newbies.
Apparently, the majority of deaths for first-floor newbie challengers are caused by them, so they're indeed dangerous monsters.
"Pathetic!"
I, a third-day newbie, laughed as I defeated the lieutenant. Absolutely overwhelming.
All this was thanks to my solo monopoly of the 2661 Tower's resources. When I first entered the tower, I thought I was a dirt-poor hunter.
Not at all. Now, I've reached the perfect "gold spoon" status I had dreamed of.
Ah, this is a life turnaround.
***
Labyrinth hunting was sweet again today.
Leveling up was good, but today I also got an unusually large number of treasure chests—8 medium chests alone.
And I also got 2 large chests. Labyrinth large chests are so rare that even top-ranked players on other servers rarely get them, yet I already grabbed two.
The items from the large chests included tons of enhancement materials, a lot of gold, and unique items with special options.
[Vampire Demon Ring]
Defense +5Intelligence +220% chance to recover 5% HP on enemy killEnhancement Attempts Available: 2
A ring accessory unobtainable by normal means on the first floor, with stats, unique options, and enhancement potential.
Rings with base stats besides defense are rare, and even rings with enhancement slots are scarce.
On top of that, accessories with unique options like this are rare even if they're not rings. Truly an incredible rare item.
"Wow… this is amazing."
I don't have a way to use it yet, but later I could sell it to aspiring high-rank hunters or challengers for a hefty price.
I also got some armor better than shop items and completed a few quests for decent rewards.
Each and every one of them would have been enough to drive newbies from other towers insane, but to me—someone monopolizing an entire tower—they were nothing worth making a fuss over.
"This is life."
Ever since entering the Tower of Trials, every single moment has been a dopamine high.
It feels like I might get addicted to the stimulation and pleasure that I never would have experienced if I'd just continued living my insignificant, dirt-poor life.
And the final destination of all this dopamine, of course, is flexing on the open community.
[Author: Seo Jin-hyeok #2661][Title: Tower of Trials Day 3 newbie stats—how we lookin'?]
(Photo)
Just like yesterday, I rented the most expensive lodging, sprawled out on the bed, and immediately started browsing the community.
Watching the comments—people asking how it was even possible to reach this level of stats in just three days, and now even accusing me of cheating—was incredibly entertaining.
So I once again stayed up until dawn, fully absorbed in the community, fell asleep, and woke up the next day well into the afternoon.
[Tower of Trials #2661 (1/1)]
Just like before, no other challengers entered today. I was still alone in the tower, but I didn't think much of it.
Looking back, though, I think that day was the last time everything was simply fun.
What I thought on the day I was dropped alone into this insane tower was right.
Yeah. My life is completely screwed.