Overgeared

The ultimate calligraphy filled the hanji (traditional Korean paper made from mulberry trees). There was a stroke that stretched out without a hitch, and the trajectory of life in one stroke was infinite.

「The Cho Kingdom should take care of Pangea. 」

Once Hanul finished the last point, the ‘word’ was finished. The Cho King would be thrilled when he received this ‘word.’ He would be able to look after the city and people he had turned away from due to fearing the Hwan Kingdom. Garam stood next to Hanul, unable to understand Hanul’s actions. “Why are you giving an opportunity to those nasty people?”

“An opportunity? This isn’t an opportunity but a reward.” Hanul put down the brush and looked at Garam. There was compassion in Hanul’s eyes. “The opportunity was yours, and the people of Pangea were sacrificed to give you that chance.”

Rain also fell in the desert. The sky never abandoned the earth.

“I have to reward them as much as I forced them to sacrifice. This is the duty I have to uphold.”

The sky (Hanul) was in a position that couldn’t be one-sided. The intolerance of heaven would make too many lives wither. The world could collapse as soon as the sky lost sight of its duty. This was the reason why Grid was rewarded for answering Hanul’s call.

“...”

A person with no desires didn’t exist completely. Garam had feelings of admiration and rejection toward Hanul, a man who was like him but also completely different from him.

***

“Hrmm.” Grid’s expression wasn’t very good when he returned to the West Continent. He was unbelievably depressed for a person who had just gained astronomical rewards.

“This game is really... hard.”

A quest had appeared in a form where he had to bite the bait. There was an enemy that was too hard to deal with. Then there was the gaming system which required higher talent. Grid sighed as he looked at the skills and magic windows. “Hah. The skills and magic are too much.”

With Pagma’s Swordsmanship, Braham’s enhanced spells, the Rune of Darkness, and items and skills attached to various titles… Grid now had close to 30 combat skills available. If he counted those attached to all the items he’d made, he would have over 50.

It was too much for Grid. He lacked the wits and sensitivity to take advantage of the skills he possessed. In particular, the stronger the opponent and the more intense the situation, the worse Grid’s thinking became. It was difficult for Grid to use his skills in the right place. After all, it was hard for effort alone to overcome pure talent. The so-called geniuses could handle 50 or 60 skills instead of just 30.

“I can afford to try different things when dealing with weak enemies, but it has been a long time since I’ve faced such a strong person.”

Grid replayed his fight with Garam. First, there was the intangible wind. Grid hadn’t been able to figure out the path of the wind with just ‘sound.’ It hadn’t been visible, and he had looked ugly while getting severely beaten by the wind that was coming from all sides. If Grid had the minimum of ‘sound sensitivity’, then he wouldn’t have been so defenseless.

‘Well, yes. I was fine using the pieces of falling stone as footholds when I was stuck in the ceiling. It was really good that I thought about it.’

He recalled the good parts as well as the bad parts. This wasn’t arrogance but necessity. Grid replayed the battle because he wanted to develop. It was important to think about what he was good at and what he wasn’t good at. This meant he could reduce his mistakes and highlight his strengths.

“Hrmm.”

The more he replayed the battle, the better he did. Waiting for his fighting energy to reach 100%, counterattacking, using buffs such as Blackening, using Doran’s Ring, using the effect of the First King title, opening Ruson’s Power, and using the cave terrain, and so on...

‘Of course, I could do more...’

Grid hadn’t used any magic, and he hadn’t been able to give detailed commands to the Light Sword and the Blade Aiming at the Gods. He hadn’t been able to control Cray’s Power completely, and he had totally forgotten about Dark Bus’ Ring, which had the ability to delete a skill. Dark Bus’ Ring reminded Grid of how Pagma’s Swordsmanship, Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle was completely neutralized by Garam. The spear had the ‘energy’ to delete a skill and Garam destroyed all the stages of Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle by swinging the spear faster than Grid’s skill casting speed.

“Oh! How rotten! There are too many skills and items! Additionally, Noe, why do you fail to use Soul Ingestion whenever it is important?”

“No, his attack penetrated through Fluidization, nyong... Too strong, nyang... I was hurt...”

“Sigh.”

Grid thought about it a few more times and concluded the difficulty of the game was too high. How many players were there in the world who could take advantage of their many skills and items like Kraugel?

‘Increasing the power while reducing the number of skills and magic will make it much more comfortable to play.’

He would make a suggestion to the customer center for the first time after a long time. It would be a very ‘polite’ message. The seriously distressed Grid brought up the details of Tiramet’s Belt. His studying and grumbling were over, and it was time to face reality again.

[Tiramet’s Belt]

[Rating: Legendary

* Reduce damage received by 15%.

* Stamina +250.

* Health +10,000

* The skill ‘Wind of Regeneration’ is generated.

-A belt that contains the unique magic power of Vampire Viscount Tiramet.

★ The final evolution of the item is complete.

You can summon vampire viscount Tiramet by consuming 1,500 mana. If Tiramet is killed in battle, he can only be summoned again after 24 hours.]

[Wind of Regeneration]

[Passive.

Tiramet’s magic power boasts excellent regeneration power and makes the wearer’s body healthy. The speed of health recovery is greatly increased, and 500 health per second will be restored.

This effect will disappear when hit. A 10-second wait is required before the effect will be reapplied.]

“Ku...” Grid’s body trembled. Had he been raising the experience for four years? Five years? No, maybe the item—which had been stuck at the unique rating—would’ve required much longer before finishing its final evolution. Now, it happened at a critical point just before the upcoming demon king event.

‘The damage reduction rate has increased by 15%, and health has increased to 10,000. This is why I was able to endure more of Garam’s attacks.’

It was completely different from when it was of the unique rating. The rumor about the true power of a growth item not being shown until its final evolution was the truth. Grid glared at Elfin Stone’s Ring, whose experience still hadn’t risen, and brought up the information for Tiramet.

[Name: Tiramet

Age: 295 Gender: Male

Species: Vampire

Level: 300

Title: Immortal Noble

* Immediately recovers 30% of the damage. This skill is charged once per hour and can be charged up to 12 times. However, if the amount of damage received from one strike exceeds 60% of his maximum health, it won’t recover. Additionally, recovery isn’t possible with divine attacks.

* Resurrected with 100% health in the case of death. All stats are increased by 20% for one hour after the resurrection. It is an effect that will activate after reaching level 360.

Title: Depressed

* He feels ashamed for being bound to a human despite being a child of Shizo Beriache. His self-esteem is so low that it is negatively affecting his morale. All stats are degraded.

Physical Attack Power: 2,150 Magic Attack Power: 100

Health: 100,000 Mana: 3,000

Defense: 2,500 Magic Resistance: 500

Possessed Skills: Block One Blow! (A), I Wonder Why I’m Alive... (C), Headbutt (C)

Status: Depressed (Resurrected after a long time and died soon after. Why am I alive... I’d rather die...)]

“...Being depressed at this time...”

Tiramet’s condition wasn’t very good. The strength of the vampire viscount Tiramet, who couldn’t be raided without the help of the Demon Slayer, was gone.

“Well, he was classified as a boss monster at the time. It doesn’t make sense to compare a summoned pet to his self from that time.”

Grid’s expression was fairly bright. Tiramet wasn’t as good as before, but it was too much to describe him as weak. Wasn’t it thanks to the ‘Block One Blow!’ skill that Tiramet managed to block one of Garam’s skills? His basic stats were also excellent. It was the attack power of a unique rated weapon combined with the defense of unique rated armor. The notable part was the equipment system. Unlike Noe, Tiramet was a humanoid monster, so it was possible for him to wear equipment. Additionally, unlike Randy, who copied a weaker version of Grid’s items, Tiramet was able to receive pure items.

‘If I set him up as a tanker, I’ll be able to attack a dungeon alone.’

Tiramet would even serve as a strong shield in the demon king subjugation event. Grid planned to make items for Tiramet starting from tomorrow. He also confirmed the rewards from the East Continent: one unique rated weapon production method, two unique rated armor production methods, 10 blessed weapon enhancement stones and 107 weapon enhancement stones, 20 blessed armor enhancement stones, and three random elixirs.

“I really cleaned up everything...”

The quest rewards were so good that he wondered if it was a scam. Fortunately, it wasn’t a scam. His inventory was full of the rewards.

“The unique rated production methods will be used for Tiramet’s items.”

Grid produced items that were at least of the epic rating. This didn’t mean that he could easily make unique rated items. He still had to rely heavily on luck to create items rated unique or higher. As such, a definite unique rated production method was solid insurance for Grid.

“I will use the enhancement stones to immediately strengthen my items.”

The probability of enhancing myth rated items was low enough to be around 0.00001%. However, it was impossible to sell the precious enhancement stones. Grid wasn’t stupid enough to sell them for a bit of money.

“Maybe I can get it to +3... No, +2. I just want +2,” Grid prayed as he finally looked at the elixirs.

Three random elixirs—they raised his stats by 30 points. It was equivalent to gaining three levels. Grid checked his main stats.

[Name: Grid

Level: 364

....

....

Strength: 3,220 (+360)

Stamina: 2,047 (+580)

Agility: 2,750 (+330)

Intelligence: 1,898 (+405)

....

....]

“I lost some intelligence after changing the crown. Still, it isn’t bad.”

The world recognized Grid as being overgeared, and Grid didn’t deny it. However, Grid’s greatest strength was his stats. Thanks to more than 26 items and the production of high rated items, Grid’s main stats were twice as high as the stats of users of the same level. He could fight with named NPCs and bosses because of his stats. Grid recalled that general elixirs were divided into four types: strength, stamina, agility, and intelligence.

“The random elixir will raise one of the four major stats...”

The stat that Grid desired was agility. He wanted to finish the golden ratio of 1:1 agility to strength and gain the higher attack power correction. Would it really go Grid’s way? Grid didn’t expect much because he was well aware of his bad luck.

“Stamina is also okay. My maximum possible blood is already over 150,000, and I will aim for 200,000.”

Thanks to the First King title, Grid would see a big gain if his maximum health increased. It was definitely good for his stamina to increase.

“Strength... Well, it isn’t bad. Intelligence...”

Since Braham’s enhanced magic spells were opened as his intelligence increased, the intelligence stat might be the next most important one after agility. Still, Grid didn’t have a big desire for intelligence. What was the point of more magic? He couldn’t even use them properly.

“Ha. Ha. Ha. I... hope... I... won’t... get... it.”

Grid took a deep breath as he grabbed a random elixir. No matter what he thought, it seemed a bit tricky because he would probably get the opposite result of what he wanted. Grid hesitated for a while before finally drinking the elixir. Gulp. The effect of the random elixir was amazing. It was different from the usual elixirs that only raised the main stats.

[The random elixir effect has increased dexterity by 10 points.]

“Ah, XX.”

He wanted to stop swearing, but why did this keep happening? Tears fell from Grid’s eyes. This was because he hadn’t noticed it yet. The fact that the random elixir raised his dexterity meant he could raise other special stats. Additionally, there weren’t just the three elixirs given to Grid as dozens of blacksmiths came to visit Grid later.