Chapter 168: Akto’s Reward (4)

[Jewel of Fortification: Fortification Index 22%]

‘As expected!’

It went up to 22%. A fortification index of 22% was the highest value I had ever seen.

I did lose 2% in the fortification process, but the fortification index is so high that I can’t even consider that to be a loss.

I suddenly became greedy.

‘Is an even higher fortification index possible?’

The strength of the equipment goes up along with the percentage of the fortification index. The slightest difference in strength could be the difference between life and death.

If possible, it is best to use multiple Jewels of Fortification to create the highest fortification index before using it. It would be beneficial to attempt it even if it only goes up by 1%.

I tried it once again. I used a low 6% fortification index with the 22% one in front of me.

However, the results were not good. It did not even go up by 1% from the 22%. I just ended up wasting a 6% Jewel of Fortification.

‘I guess 22% is the limit.’

But this was already amazing. Nobody else in the world should be able to raise the fortification index this high.

I combined the other Jewels of Fortification as well.

The results were all the same. The loss from fortification was only around 1% and the highest fortification index was 22%.

As I continued, I was able to create Jewels of Fortification with 22% fortification indexes every time I combined three jewels together.

‘But this is a bit odd.’

I already created five Jewels of Fortification with 22% fortification indexes. Since I needed to combine twice to make one, I had already combined a total of ten times.

I should be feeling a bit tired by now. The fatigue goes down as the Jewel Alchemy skill goes up, but I had felt extreme fatigue after 20 consecutive combinations in the past.

But I was fine right now. I didn’t feel tired at all. In fact, I was feeling refreshed as if I had just woken up.

If it continues like this, forget 20, I should be able to combine 200 times in a row without any issues.

‘I wonder what the reason is.’

There was only one thing that came to mind.

Akto’s quest. The secrets of Jewel Alchemy I learned as a reward. My Jewel Alchemy rose to Advanced Level 3 thanks to that.

Thinking up to that point made me think about shaking hands with Akto’s soul in the end.

It was a very odd experience. I couldn’t touch it when I tried to grab it, but Akto’s hand felt realistic when I focused like I do when I combine jewels.

Akto had said that was the hidden secret of Jewel Alchemy.

‘Ah! In that case……!’

I finally felt something. Rather than just raising the skill level, it would be raising the entire Jewel Alchemy to a whole new dimension.

I felt like I knew how to confirm this as well.

‘Let’s try it!’

I tried to combine two Jewels of Fortification once again. I thought about my handshake with Akto as I did that.

‘I can feel it! I really can feel it!’

If my suspicions are correct, I should be able to feel the Fairy Energy inside the jewels similar to how I felt Akto’s hand.

Is it possible?

No, I couldn’t doubt it. I worked hard while telling myself that it was definitely possible.

It was not easy. I tried over and over but I continued to fail. I succeeded in the combination but I didn’t feel the Fairy Energy……

‘……Huh?’

I felt it. It was very faint, but I felt something light on my hand.

That was the beginning. That sensation became stronger the more I focused, with the sensation becoming clear at some point.

‘It feels like a squishy jelly.’

The combination continued as I did that. I had already made thirty Jewels of Fortification with 22% fortification indexes.

I did not stop combining them.

I didn’t have a reason to stop. I pretty much combined 60 times already and I did not feel tired at all.

It seemed as if the fatigue penalty had disappeared completely.

‘Just a bit more realistic!’

I didn’t have many Jewels of Fortification left. I had already used up all of the ones that the Dwarves had brought along and there were only about 20 left in my bag as well.

I tried combining all of them without leaving any behind.

The sensation of the Fairy Energy continued to get firmer. It had now moved from a squishy jelly to a hard ball.

‘How disappointing. I felt like I could reach a higher level if I kept going.’

However, I did not have any Jewels of Fortification left.

I quickly opened my skills window. It was because I felt certain that there were changes.

[Jewel Alchemy: Advanced Level 4, 1%]

‘As expected!’

My skill experience rate had gone up in that short duration of time.

However, raising the skills experience level didn’t seem to be the only thing that changed. I wasn’t certain, but I felt like there was a different change as well.

‘Did I maybe reach the One with the Sword level?’

I wanted to know with certainty.

It was simple. I just needed to fortify my weapon. Then I would be able to feel it with certainty.

I first fortified all of the Dwarves’ weapons.

“Hand them to me one by one.”

“Yes. Here!”

“Mine next!”

The Dwarves were picking orders as if they were fighting.

But it didn’t matter who was first. I just fortified the first weapon that was pushed in front of me.

Of course, I tried my best to remember the feeling from before.

‘Oh! It worked!’

I put the Jewel of Fortification on the weapon and focused and I could feel the Fairy Energy coming out of the Jewel of Fortification. It felt as if a small baby bird was moving on my hand.

‘It’s warm! It’s soft!’

Fairy Energy was a source of life. It squirmed and continued to move. Eventually, it disappeared into the weapon.

I continued to fortify the weapons. I raised them all by 1 level.

I had 37 jewels with 22% fortification indexes, while I still had 20 of them left after fortifying all of the Dwarves weapons.

Harrison and the others were looking enviously from the other side.

However, they didn’t dare to ask me to fortify their weapons as well. It was because they knew how amazing fortification is.

They also didn’t have anything to give me in return for fortifying their weapons.

I also didn’t have enough jewels to fortify all of their weapons.

It was time to fortify my weapons now. Goonto’s Twin Blades and the Shadow Fox’s Leather Armor were both set items, so fortifying them once took 7 jewels.

I focused more than ever before and attempted a fortification.

I still didn’t feel tired. The fortification process became shorter as I continued to fortify items as well. It took less than 10 minutes to fortify all seven pieces.

All of my equipment had finished their third fortifications now.

‘Is a fourth fortification possible?’

I’ll find out once I try. Failing would mean that I will have wasted a Jewel of Fortification, but I can get plenty of those from the Dwarves Village.

I started to focus again. I was smiling so widely a moment later.

‘It worked!’

One of Goonto’s Twin Blades was easily fortified a fourth time.

I did the same for the rest of the equipment.

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‘Maybe a fifth fortification is possible too?’

I only had 6 Jewels of Fortification left.

However, there was no need to save them. It would be fine to use them all here.

I put a Jewel of Fortification on one of Goonto’s Twin Blades once again.

A moment later.

I suddenly shouted in shock.

“Wow!”

“What is it? What’s going on?”

“What is it?”

The Dwarves all looked toward me in shock.

I couldn’t even respond back. One of my twin blades had successfully been fortified five times.

Since I’m here anyway! Let’s see how far I can go.

I attempted a sixth fortification on it.

However, the sixth level was too much. The feeling in my hand became cold in less than 10 seconds.

I guess the fifth level was my limit right now.

But this was already amazing.

I did a fifth fortification on the other blade and four pieces of the Shadow Fox’s Leather Armor.

I then took a good look at the completed equipment.

[Goonto’s Twin Blades +5 Fortification: Personalized for Kang Hwi Ram]

This cutlass was made by Goonto, the current greatest blacksmith in the world. Two

blades were created as a pair.

Durability: 999/999

Attack Strength: 189

Attack Speed: 89

Restrictions: Strength 179, Agility 1,089, Level 398

* All restrictions decreased by 30% when used by Kang Hwi Ram.

* 50% chance of adding 498 lightning damage

* 21% chance of causing Stun

* Increase basic Magic Level by 100%

* Special Skill: Nullify 30% of Enemy Defense (Use 50 MP)

* Attack strength and chances of special skill increased by 100% each when used by Kang Hwi Ram

‘It changed!’

It was not just a simple change either. It was such a big change that it almost felt like a different weapon. Not only did the damage go up, but the special skills had changed as well.

The restrictions also went down. It was natural for restrictions to go up as weapons get fortified, however, it went in reverse.

Now I could use my available points however I want instead of saving them to meet the restrictions.

‘What happened to the armor?’

[Shadow Fox’s Leather Armor Set +5 Fortification]

Armor, pants, gloves, boots, and helmet make the set.

Made with the Shadow Fox’s hide, as well as the Golden Alligator hide and Midnight Black scales.

Durability: 673/673

Defense: 237

Restriction: Level 416

* Agility +71, Strength +33

* Magic Resistance +217

* Reinforced Toughness +90

* 71% chance of reflecting 63% of Damage

* Special ability: Stealthy Approach S-Rank, Evasion S-Rank, Stamina Reduction 40% Decrease, Damage Absorption 48%

* Special skill: Dark Force (Cool time 1 hour)

* All abilities increased by 50% when used by Kang Hwi Ram.

‘Holy crap!’

The basic abilities fortified by a lot. The defense, agility, and strength increase naturally went up, and things like magic resistance and Reinforced Toughness that I thought would never change went up as well. Significantly at that.

Those numbers had not changed until the third level fortification.

But that was not it. All of these abilities increased by 50% when I used it.

Overall, it was as if the abilities went up by 300 percent.

No other armor set in the world is probably as great as this.

However, I was not satisfied yet. What I really wanted was not just increases in the equipments’ abilities.

I put the Shadow Fox’s Leather Armor back on. I then grabbed Goonto’s Twin Blades and got up.

“Are we moving now?”

Goonto and the Dwarves got up as well. They seemed antsy to use their newly fortified weapons.

I was getting antsy as well. However, there was no need to rush.

“Wait one second. I have something I want to verify first.”

The Dwarves sat back down.

I focused on Goonto’s Twin Blades in my hands. I was trying to feel the Fairy Energy that I felt when I was combining the jewels.

I was certain that the Fairy Energy would be inside the blades. I was also certain that I would be able to control it.

However, it was not easy. I tried for a while, but forget a squishy jelly, I didn’t even feel a warm sensation.

‘It won’t work like this.’

I guess real battles experience is most important. I would need to use Goonto’s Twin Blades on monsters.

There was a simple way to do it. I needed to refill my emptied Spirit Energy anyway.

I took out a level 200 medium sized Demon Cave scroll. I walked a good distance away from the others and ripped the scroll.

The group didn’t even flinch when I did something like this anymore. None of them even grabbed their weapons in case something went wrong.

They just calmly looked at me with gazes that seemed to be saying, ‘here he goes again.’ Then they just sat back and watched.

Cave Trolls, Giant Dogs, and other monsters popped out of the Demon Cave.

I started to swing Goonto’s Twin Blades toward the monsters. Then I felt something definitely different than before.

‘The sword naturally moves even without me thinking about it!’

It felt kind of like the sword was controlling me. Once I started to think that I need to attack a certain monster, it would figure out the best route and lead my body in that direction.

It made me think about sitting and typing on a keyboard.

I average around 400 characters per minute. If I just type without worrying about typos, I could probably type 800 characters per minute. (TL: For reference, I type 515 characters per minute at 99% accuracy…so he’s not that fast lol. (PR: Bragger, lol) (TL: Maso apparently types only 100 characters per minute))

It would be impossible to do this if I had to think about where ‘h’ or ‘t’ or any letter was located on the keyboard. My fingers just move on their own when I think about what I need to type.

I guess you could say they move on their own as well.

That was exactly the case right now. There was no thoughts in my mind such as, ‘I will slash this way and then stab from the left.’ The blades automatically moved toward any openings and blocked any dangers before I even had a moment to respond.

It allowed me to move a half step faster than before.

For someone like me who used a speed-based sword art such as Drake’s TBSA, this half step was extremely beneficial. It meant instead of attacking 5 times in 1 second, I could now attack 7 times.

I even wondered if this was the secret to, ‘One with the Sword.’

It also gave me the chance to focus on other things.

‘Fairy Energy. I can definitely feel it!’

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