Translator: HunterW

Editor: RED

==Haha! Nice! But doesn’t this pretty much mean I’ll succeed every time? I don’t even need to wait for Fated Crossroads.==

==Fated Crossroads has now deactivated.

Fated Crossroads will be on cooldown for the next 147 days.==

The me inside the video was grinning from ear to ear. That was enough for me. The cooldown was a lot longer than the last, but I didn’t care about that. Upgrading my Harrier to Rank 10 was more important.

“I’ll buy a Weapon Rank Upgrade.”

“Please select the weapon you wish to upgrade. The cost and success rate of the upgrade will depend on the weapon’s Rank.”

The same system window from last time appeared and I placed my Harrier into the slot without hesitation.

==You have selected a Rank 9 weapon.

Upgrading this weapon requires 900,000,000 golden rings and has a 1% chance of success. If the upgrade fails, you will lose the 900,000,000 golden rings. Are you sure you wish to proceed?==

“Proceed!” There was still the voice in the back of my head that told me not to trust in Fated Crossroads so much. Like its description said, there was a 99% chance it was telling the truth and a 1% chance it was lying. But I still believed that it was worth betting on those odds. Besides, it was only 900 million golden rings. It was chump change to me now.

Still, my heart was beating out of my chest. A Rank 8 or Rank 9 weapon was nothing compared to a Rank 10. That was why Rank 8 and Rank 9 items shone red while Rank 10 items alone shone purple. Soon, a message appeared before me rather simply while I was stressing out.

==The Rank 9 Heart’s Blood Harrier has successfully been upgraded to Rank 10.==

“…” Just a moment ago, my Harrier was still oozing a red haze, but in the blink of an eye, it shone with a bright purple light. And I wasn’t the only one who saw it.

“Whoa!”

“It’s…purple!”

“It’s a Rank 10 weapon!”

“Someone actually spent 900 million golden rings on a 1% chance…?”

“It’s Lee Jiwon. Lee Jiwon just upgraded his Rank 9 weapon to Rank 10!”

“I saw him succeed last time, too.”

“Yeah, I did too. He successfully upgraded his Rank 8 spear to Rank 9. But he did it again? Without fail?”

“That’s just crazy…”

“Who does that…?”

The gossiping and whispering were getting loud enough for me to hear. I completely understood their disbelief; I’d be the same way. I picked up my Harrier and put it back in my inventory. I could check it at home. It wasn’t like it was going to drop back down to Rank 9 if I checked it later.

I had to upgrade my accessories’ Ranks first. I had initially planned to do it after using Fated Crossroads one more time. If it showed me succeed a total of three times, then I was sure that I could succeed each time. But right now, Fated Crossroads had a cooldown of 147 days, almost five months! I couldn’t wait that long. I just had to believe in my Luck Boost.

I entered the accessory shop and a huge crowd followed. They had all seen me successfully upgrade to Rank 10.

“Welcome to Section 35’s Center D accessory shop.”

“Show me your accessories.”

“Right away, sir.”

The store menu came up, revealing a variety of accessories, but I ignored them all and scrolled all the way down.

“I’ll buy an Accessory Rank Upgrade.”

Soon, a similar window with a slot like the weapon upgrade appeared. I had originally planned on upgrading the Reversal Prodigy first. It was thanks to that item that I could get off six to eight critical hits in a row. But I had changed my mind just a few minutes ago.

==Bracelet of Eternal Fire (Rank 8)

A bracelet holding the wick of an ever-burning candle. All that remains is the wick, but the flame never goes out.

Increase all stats by 100 points

Increase VIT by 500 points

When HP reaches 0, HP is restored back to 35%. (Eternal Fire’s Last Breath): Once activated, user must wait 30 days before being able to use effect again.==

This one didn’t have critical boosts like other accessories and only had two Stat boost effects. A 500 point-boost to VIT wasn’t anything to scoff at, but it still lacked for a Rank 8 accessory, especially with the Eternal Fire’s Last Breath effect.

-It’d be great if upgrading it to Rank 9 adds another Last Breath effect!-

Of course, I had too high of HP and VIT to be able to die easily, but I wanted extra lives after facing off against Angel and the red-eyed stranger. I wanted more lives than the extra one the Bracelet of Eternal Fire had right now. I placed the Bracelet into the upgrade slot.

==You have selected a Rank 8 accessory.

Upgrading this weapon requires 1,400,000,000 golden rings and has a 1-3% chance of success. If the upgrade fails, you will lose the 1,400,000,000 golden rings. Are you sure you wish to proceed?==

Upgrading accessories was almost twice as expensive as upgrading weapons, even though the rate of success was the same. That seemed to be the norm for accessories.

“Proceed!”

==The Rank 8 Bracelet of Eternal Fire has failed to be upgraded to Rank 9.

The 1,400,000,000 golden rings will not be returned to you.==

“…” I fell into a different silence than when I had successfully upgraded my weapon. 1.4 billion golden rings was 1,400 Stat points. I quickly snapped to and returned the Bracelet to my inventory. I turned around and left the shop with a poker face. I didn’t want to cause a scene here of all places. Once I left the Store, I Blinked away.

—

Back at my home in Center D…

“Hmm…did my Luck Boost not work that time? Maybe attempting 3% right after 1% was too much for it…” I was still angry about it, especially after being that confident I would succeed. I had to suppress my urge to shout out, since it wasn’t like anyone could understand if I complained to them about my Luck Boost. It was a secret I had to take to the grave.

I laid down on my bed and summoned the Dungeon Mole and the Achilles Tendon for the first time in a while. I at least got to upgrade my spear to Rank 10, and got so much out of Survival that I could rest comfortably. “Item Check.”

Heart’s Blood Harrier (Rank 10)

A spear crafted not for practical use…

Successful attacks drain 50,000 HP from enemies. Absorbed HP is used to restore wielder’s lost HP. (If no HP is lost, absorbed HP disappears.)

AoE HP drain. (Absorb a moderate amount of HP from enemies within a 50-meter radius. Does not work against undead monsters.)

20% chance to ignore enemy DEF.

If the wielder’s HP is higher than the enemy’s HP, the wielder’s combat abilities increase by 10% and the enemy’s decrease by 20%.

Increase Penetration by 550.

Increase CRIT chance by 8.8%, increase CRIT damage by 555%.

Increase STR by 1,000.

Increase VIT by 2,000.

Increase HP by 5,000,000.

Durability: 3,945,000

/3,945,000

ATT: 58,900, MATT: 4500

“Damn.” I couldn’t help but feel amazed no matter how many times I looked at it. “That’s quite the difference…” It was a completely different weapon now. It wasn’t the same Harrier I had found in Egypt, especially with its new effect. It now increased my combat abilities by 10% while lowering my enemy’s by 20%, as long as I had more HP.

“And I doubt there’s anyone out there who has more HP than me.” That was one of my aspects I could confidently say was true. My VIT and HP had never let me down since I had started my second life in the Otadolon stage. The Harrier also raised my HP by another five million points. There was no way I could lose when it came to HP. The more I looked at the Harrier’s description, the more my anger about failing the Bracelet disappeared. It didn’t matter to me anymore that I had lost out on 1.4 billion golden rings. The Harrier itself was probably worth 20 or 30 billion golden rings. Then again, it wasn’t like I was ever going to sell it.

I picked up my Comm Link and called my mother.

“What is it, Jiwon?”

“Mom, let’s throw a feast.”

“Why all of a sudden?”

“Well, it’s been almost four months since I’ve been home. Let’s get the family together for a feast.”

“Sure, if that’s what my boy wants, then I should make it happen.”

——–

One week later, during a weekly Empire meeting…

“So, you’re saying that the red-eyed stranger was seen being friendly with a member of the Abu Dhabi Guild?”

“Yes sir. But that Abu Dhabi member has no recollection of that day or that man.”

“He remembers nothing at all?”

“No sir. It’s strange; there are many witnesses who saw the two walking down the streets of Center B, which was how we were able to put together this sketch of the red-eyed man. But the Abu Dhabi deva says he had never seen him in his life.”

A sketch of a man was placed before me. It was him, the man with red irises.

“Is that all the information on his movements?”

“No sir. We were able to confirm that he had met with Cheng Long, Nayuta, and the Windsor Guard after that day.”

“…” From that, I knew right away that whoever this guy was, he was planning some sort of attack or a coup. None of those three guilds liked me very much, nor did I like them.

“It would seem that he’s either an Information or Curse-type ability user. It was only for a moment, but I wasn’t able to see him as an enemy.” I decided to reveal what I had felt that day. They had to know that as well.

“So that means…”

“Seeing as how our man couldn’t remember him, it doesn’t seem so far-fetched,” Taniya agreed.

“Should we deal with this preemptively?” Baden asked. He seemed guilty since it was a member of his guild who became involved.

“No, we mustn’t,” Taniya said. “Keep in mind that this was is a team game. It’s Earth versus Croot. If the Empire decides to make those three Earth guild’s the enemy, it’ll cause chaos among the other Earth guilds. I’m sure that is what the enemy wishes to happen.”

“She’s right. We’re currently the strongest Earth alliance. It’ll look like we’re bullying the three guilds for not joining us. No one is going to like that very much.”

“I have to agree. It doesn’t matter how much evidence we have; it’ll be hard to convince the other guilds to forgive us if we act rashly.”

I nodded in agreement. If it were up to me, I would have crushed those three guilds for conspiring with the enemy, but it wasn’t like we had enough evidence.

“Move Cheng Long, Nayuta, and the Winsor Guard up to priority one and keep track of their movements closely. I’ll leave it to you, Alpha.”

“Yes sir. Leave it to us. It’s our specialty, after all,” Alpha replied with a smile.