The Only Enhancer - Chapter 57

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 57
Episode 57 – First Raid, Magic Stone Enhancement (2)
Magic Stone Enhancement.
When I reached Level 5, it was a regular skill I obtained alongside Skill Extraction, excluding my ultimate ability, Interference.
I could have bought magic stones and used them, but why bother?
I’d be heading into a raid soon where I could obtain magic stones naturally, so there was no reason to purchase and enhance them.
Besides, the only magic stones I could casually buy and use were Disaster Level 2 stones.
Disaster Level 3 and above magic stones were mostly sold for industrial or research purposes, so acquiring them required paying a premium.
There was no need for that.
Not when I was defeating Disaster Level 4 creatures this easily.
‘So where is it.’
I moved toward the magic stone.
From a distance, the magic stone appeared larger than I’d expected.
It was roughly 2 meters tall and about 1 meter wide.
As the magic stone of a Disaster Level 4 monster, it was certainly impressive in size.
I stood before the magic stone.
And everyone watched me.
As the guild master, my movements naturally drew attention.
I paid no mind to everyone swallowing nervously as they observed.
I hadn’t even realized they were watching me so intently.
‘Let’s enhance it right away.’
The guild members?
They couldn’t disclose information about me anyway.
And even if they did, it didn’t matter.
There was no reason to hide anymore.
Hadn’t I obtained Interference, my ultimate ability, upon reaching Level 5?
Now I was confident I could defeat even three or more Level 6 assassins each carrying a +6 reinforced item.
Actually, combat itself wouldn’t even be possible.
With a single gesture, I could reduce their +6 items to +0.
To kill me, who already possessed +6 items, they’d need items of equivalent grade, which they didn’t have—making any damage impossible, so how could combat even occur?
Through ambush?
I had five +6 items.
Even if they brought every +6 item in the world, it would be impossible to penetrate the defense of these items and succeed with an ambush.
In this situation, there was no reason to hide from guild members I’d already placed restrictions on.
‘Magic Stone Enhancement.’
I activated the skill.
I’d only felt how it worked intuitively before, so this was my first time actually seeing it.
What would happen?
Unlike item reinforcement, there was no flashy effect.
Only a golden light flowed from my hands.
“W-what?!”
“What… what is this?”
“Be quiet.”
As golden light poured forth from strengthening the mana stone and enveloped it, Jung Ji-hwan silenced the crowd’s startled commotion with a single word.
At his command to remain still, everyone watched the spectacle unfold.
Whatever was happening now.
The mana stone was wrapped in a brilliant golden light—warm and almost sacred in appearance—and its size gradually diminished.
What had begun as an enormous stone progressively shrank, hovering in mid-air, and I observed it intently.
What phenomenon was occurring?
‘What… what is that?’
‘The mana stone… it suddenly got smaller?’
‘Wait, so when the guild master said all items and mana stones belong to him and we pay based on their value… he meant he could use mana stones like this?’
‘What is happening?’
‘Is… is it a skill?’
Everyone’s reaction was one of complete bewilderment.
Isabella, who hailed from the Saint Guild, was equally perplexed.
“…What on earth is going on?”
Isabella muttered to herself.
Jung Ji-hwan approached her and spoke.
“A new era is dawning in the hunter world.”
As my closest aide, he seemed to know something.
At his cryptic words, Isabella turned to him and asked.
“…You do know something, don’t you?”
“No, I don’t. But can’t you tell just by looking?”
“…??”
He speaks as if he knows, yet claims ignorance?
It made no sense, but in situations like this, it was best to let it pass.
Isabella turned away from Jung Ji-hwan.
The mana stone, now reduced to the size of a fist, fell into my hand.
What could this possibly be?
Just as all the guild members were burning with curiosity.
I examined the strengthened mana stone, visible only to me.
[Strengthened Level 4 Mana Stone]
-Skill [ ].
-The mana contained in the mana stone can be used as desired.
*You can recharge your own mana using the mana stored in the stone, or conversely, recharge the stone using your own mana.
*Already strengthened; cannot be strengthened further.
*Filling an empty slot with a skill allows you to use that skill with the mana stone’s energy.
*A strengthened mana stone ignores the defensive barriers of monsters at the same level or items with the same enhancement value.
“…?”
What is this?
I was surprised by the longer-than-expected explanation, but I took my time reading through it carefully.
My jaw couldn’t help but drop with each passing moment.
Each option was absolutely insane.
That’s why I came with just a rough feeling, but it wasn’t concrete.
I would’ve found out anyway once I enhanced it.
Wait, if that’s the case?
‘So I can insert a skill and use it for free with the mana stone’s mana, but I can also use it as a battery?’
Either way, it was absolutely incredible.
The former was essentially gaining one more Four Major Guilds item skill, and the latter meant I could replenish the mana I lacked during enhancement.
Wait, hold on?
It’s not just enhancement.
I can use it in every aspect.
What was the reason I couldn’t run Disaster Level 4 raids consecutively?
There were issues with fatigue and stamina, but the biggest reason was mana shortage.
My Reinforce Guild faced the same problem.
‘In fact, now that everyone has obtained ultimate skills, mana shortage might become even worse.’
If I only hunted a single creature, I could finish faster than anyone, but my sustainability was lacking.
But if I had this?
I could solve the mana shortage problem.
‘Wait, this?’
The guild I imagined had everyone equipped with 6-star items, and it would be the world’s first to raid Disaster Level 5 continuously—the strongest guild.
If everyone wore at least 5-star items and wielded 6-star weapons, even Level 4 hunters could sufficiently take down Disaster Level 5.
More than enough.
But since most were Level 4, I worried whether mana would be unstable.
Now that was solved.
‘We’re getting closer.’
To the strongest guild.
So then.
I grinned widely, turned my head, and scattered the mana from the mana stone, filling all my guild members’ mana reserves completely.
As their mana, which had been nearly depleted, suddenly surged back, everyone gasped in shock.
It wasn’t that mana recovery skills didn’t exist, but they were rare.
But that wasn’t why they were shocked.
“M-my mana is recovering?”
“M-mine too! My mana recovered!”
“A-all these people at once!?”
“H-huh!?”
To recover mana, you had to consume slightly more mana than the amount you were recovering to fill it back up.
Unless it was a mana recovery skill attached to an ultimate skill.
In other words, to recover this many people all at once, my mana had to be greater than all the mana gathered here, didn’t it?
But they weren’t fools either.
Min-jun had just done something with the magic stone, and it was certain he’d used the fist-sized magic stone.
What kind of skill could a healer possibly possess to perform such a miracle?
It was utterly incomprehensible.
Though they couldn’t understand it, one thing was certain.
‘This guild will become the greatest in the world.’
‘And I’m part of this guild!’
‘Truly, I’ll be buried here!’
‘Hehe, it seems even our ancestors’ descendants cannot escape the turning of fate.’
Though one peculiar thought had slipped in.
Most of the emotions and thoughts they shared were common.
What an honor to have entered this place!
That’s the sort of thing they were thinking.
Until Min-jun spoke.
“Everyone’s recovered now, so shall we head to the next raid?”
“…?”
“????”
“…????”
Everyone tilted their heads, wondering what they’d just heard.
Jung Ji-hwan, who was nearby, approached and spoke.
“In about thirty minutes heading that way, there’s a Disaster Level 4 monster—an Earth Shark.”
“Perfect then. Let’s move out. Those at Level 3 will level up quickly!”
At those words, they hesitated for a moment.
‘We’re raiding Disaster Level 4 again?’
‘Seriously?’
‘Well… I am recovered, so…?’
‘What about rest?’
‘I don’t know—if you’re going to complain, then you complain.’
Questions abounded, but no one could voice them.
After all, their mana had fully recovered.
So a few people muttered to themselves.
“This will be the last one, right?”
“Come on~ surely we’re not doing three times?”
That day, Reinforce Guild hunted five Disaster Level 4 monsters.
2.
The Sacerdotal Society.
The organization wielding the greatest power in Korea’s hunter community, save for the Hunter Association.
Yet it was also an organization most people didn’t know about.
Only the Four Major Guilds—once five, now four—and a handful of mega-sized guilds knew of it.
They called it a gathering, though that was merely what they said publicly.
Their nature and behavior had to be viewed as a collective.
And Myung Ha-jin, an executive there, spoke to his friend.
“How about you start thinking about giving up?”
“….”
Lee Hyuk, the head of the Sacerdotal Society, didn’t open his mouth in response to Myung Ha-jin’s words, but internally, he felt the same way.
The Hunter Association had drawn their swords in earnest.
So wasn’t Changgong Guild in this mess for the same reason?
Of course, Han Mu-gyeol—that greedy bastard—had crossed the line, but Lee Hyuk couldn’t think of any clever countermeasure either.
Myung Ha-jin had already given up.
There was nothing more to say.
“Sigh.”
“I know you still can’t let it go, but you understand now, don’t you? That person won’t come back no matter what you do.”
“….”
“Your intentions were good when you created it, but the Healer Protection Act ultimately just made our abuse of power worse, didn’t it?”
Myung Ha-jin, who usually only joked around, spoke with a heavy tone.
Lee Hyuk didn’t respond and simply lowered his head.
It was an era when the Great Cataclysm had ended and things were gradually stabilizing.
This was a story from approximately ten years ago.
It was back when Myung Ha-jin and Lee Hyuk had only recently awakened, and that incident erupted.
‘The Healer Purge.’
It wasn’t literal murder, but rather a protest where Tanks and Dealers joined hands to diminish the ever-rising status of Healers—and it was called the Healer Purge.
Tanks and Dealers couldn’t help but feel anxious about the Healers’ ever-increasing status.
Healers’ market value kept rising, and the share that Tanks and Dealers received could only shrink.
Discontent was inevitable.
It was the Tanks who directly blocked the monsters’ attacks, and it was the Dealers who attacked and killed the monsters.
But it was only natural that the value of Healers, who kept them alive, would rise.
Moreover, since Healers were the rarest class to awaken, there was no way to prevent their market value from increasing.
‘So those bastards started protesting in the name of equality.’
From the Healers’ perspective, it was absolutely absurd.
They hadn’t raised their own market value.
Tanks, who were always on the front lines fighting monsters, had a fear of death, so Healers were absolutely essential.
That’s why each party had no choice but to pay high prices to recruit them.
And naturally, Healers would go to the highest bidder.
It was just how things were, but now they’re calling it unfair.
From the Healers’ perspective, it was utterly ridiculous.
And the Healers fought back.
Then an accident happened.
Lee Hyuk and Myung Ha-jin had a Healer who was like a mentor to them.
Myung Ha-jin, being free-spirited, received teachings without being bound by them, but Lee Hyuk was different.
Lee Hyuk was the one who felt more anger than anyone at his mentor’s death, and it was he who gathered the Healers’ opinions and forcefully advocated for the creation of the Healer Protection Act.
And thus, the Sacerdotal Society was born.
Not a guild, but an association of healers created to protect their interests and rights.
‘How did things end up like this?’
Even now, ten years later, Lee Hyuk burned with resentment.
But that conviction had wavered during the Gangneung disaster raid not long ago.
Because of a single person.
A man who embodied what a healer should be more than anyone else.
Min-jun, whom I’d desperately tried to recruit, had proven himself a truer healer than anyone present at that disaster.
And he bore an uncanny resemblance to my master—someone I’d never even met.
My master, who would rush toward any injured person without hesitation, pouring out healing regardless of mana depletion or exhaustion.
I’d heard that Min-jun had done the same—healing alone with unwavering resolve even as everyone else collapsed and mana reserves dwindled.
That was when Lee Hyuk felt it.
‘Is this really right?’
I’d spent ten years living this way, fighting for healers’ rights and dignity.
But was this truly what my master would have wanted?
No—a master who embodied healing itself would never have wished for this.
Then what had I been doing all this time?
I no longer knew.
Myung Ha-jin regarded the conflicted Lee Hyuk with sympathetic eyes.
After all, he’d been broken for quite some time.
Uncertain if it would comfort him, Myung Ha-jin smiled and spoke.
“Hey, Min-jun said he’s starting a guild. Why don’t we join him?”
“…???”
Lee Hyuk’s face contorted as though he’d heard the most absurd thing in the world, staring at Myung Ha-jin.
But why was it?
His eyes were wavering.
3.
A guild founding ceremony is one of the most important events announcing a guild’s launch.
Before holding the ceremony, preparations and other crucial matters are handled, but nothing surpasses the significance of the founding ceremony itself.
After all, there’s a saying that the beginning is half the battle.
For this reason, many people paid meticulous attention to the founding ceremony.
They would invite journalists and numerous guests, first establishing the guild’s name before officially commencing operations.
This place was no exception.
The founding ceremony of Reinforce Guild.
It wasn’t a guild known to many.
Being a newly established guild was natural enough, but some guilds became known through word-of-mouth before their official founding—yet Reinforce Guild had conducted no such publicity whatsoever.
So it was only natural that it remained unknown.
“I’ve never seen a newly established guild this unknown before.”
“And yet, it’s also the first time I’ve seen a guild that’s supposedly ‘important information’ known by everyone who matters.”
One journalist’s observation was undeniably accurate.
Those in the know were well aware of it.
This fledgling guild had been founded by the Level 6 talent who had stirred up all of Korea not long ago.
The potential itself was undeniably immense.
But potential was one thing—for now, it remained a rookie guild.
At least, that’s what the journalists believed.
“Reinforce Guild? I heard a Level 6 talent founded it, but do you have any other sources?”
“Heh, just hearsay?”
“Oh right, I gave you some intel before.”
“You call that tasteless drivel a source?”
“So you don’t have anything?”
“I do. Changgong Guild.”
“Ah.”
The veteran journalists needed no further explanation.
Changgong Guild, which had collapsed not long ago.
Though the Four Major Guilds and mega-guilds had managed to poach quite a few of their talents, far more had slipped through their grasp than expected.
And several journalists who’d caught the scent were now convinced those people had gone to Reinforce Guild.
Why else would they have conducted interviews so recently?
There were even rumors that quite a few high-level hunters had flocked there.
“Ooh, so they do have some hidden strength?”
“Still, who knows? The guild master is just a twenty-year-old kid.”
“Yeah, how many fledgling guilds collapse in a day or two?”
As the journalists chuckled among themselves,
guests began to arrive in earnest.
The guests at a guild’s founding ceremony revealed its true strength.
After all, connections were a form of power.
The higher the status of those attending the founding ceremony, the more one could gauge how well the guild would fare.
So what sort of impressive figures would gather here?
As the journalists waited to see who would arrive, the moment the first person appeared, they couldn’t even think to raise their cameras—they could only blink in disbelief.
“Heh, it’s been a while since a guild founding ceremony.”
“There’s a seat reserved for you, sir.”
“Ahem, I told you I wasn’t coming.”
….
Korea’s sole Level 6 and Hunter Association Chairman Ma Hyun-seok, along with Association Executive Lee Hee-bin, Spear Destroyer Won Eun-seong, and Blue Swordsman Go Ji-woo.
Each one was extraordinary.
The entourage they brought was equally formidable.
Was that all?
There was no way.
“L-look there. The Saint Lee Hyuk and Ghost Myung Ha-jin are here too….”
“All the leaders of the Four Major Guilds have gathered?”
“…The mega-guilds too?!”
“Isn’t that Richard Franklin, the leader of Saint Guild?”
“F-Franklin is here!???”
“??!?!?”
The journalists could only stare in stunned silence.
More than half of Korea’s Level 5 hunters had gathered here, along with Richard Franklin, the head of Saint Guild, and Ma Hyun-seok, the Steel Hero.
The two of them even shook hands warmly and exchanged pleasantries.
“It’s been a while.”
“Haha, you still look as formidable as ever, Hyun-seok. Seeing you in such fine form, it seems retirement is still quite far off.”
“…Well, I suppose I should eventually step down and pass the torch to the next generation.”
“Haha, always the jokester.”
“…”
Ma Hyun-seok seemed somewhat uncomfortable, but regardless, an extraordinary assembly of people had gathered.
And amid it all.
Jung Ji-hwan gripped the microphone and spoke.
“Please be seated.”
At Jung Ji-hwan’s words, the fully equipped Reinforce Guild made their entrance.
Everyone who had been seated sprang to their feet involuntarily.
And the journalists stopped thinking altogether.
There was no point in trying.
An entire guild clad in full gear composed of Rank 5 and Rank 4 hunters.
And Min-jun, the master of this guild, stepped forward and spoke.
“Thank you all for coming. Now, let me begin the founding ceremony.”
With Min-jun’s greeting, the founding ceremony of Reinforce Guild commenced.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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