The Only Enhancer - Chapter 65

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

Episode 65
Episode 65 – Taiwan Disaster Level 5 (3)
An ultimate skill that obliterated a Disaster Level 5 monster in a single strike.
In truth, it was a transcendent skill, but no one could have known that.
Everyone was overwhelmed.
How could they not be?
Even if it was merely an ultimate skill, a considerable portion of Yushan’s peak—Taiwan’s highest mountain—had vanished.
The destructive power displayed was almost unbelievable, even for a Disaster Level 5.
As the creature disappeared, it left behind a single item.
Typically, when a Disaster Level 5 dies, it drops a 4-star item.
But the item falling from the sky radiated a deep, luminous crimson light.
Clear evidence of a 5-star item.
Of course, none of them gasped in admiration at the sight.
Well, none of the guild members did.
Only Lai Wei-yuan was marveling at it.
‘Wow! A 5-star item—what luck!’
Wasn’t this the kind of item that dropped less than 10% of the time?
The guild members felt the same way.
Since they already knew I was an enhancement artisan, they were even more indifferent.
Everyone was already borrowing 6-star items—why would they get excited over a 5-star?
Min-jun understood this too, so he wasn’t particularly thrilled.
He simply placed the item that had fallen from the magic stone into his inventory without fanfare.
Now it was time to check the ultimate skill and other abilities!
‘Let me check right away.’
With no monsters to interrupt me now, I could examine it immediately.
The ultimate skill first—the one I’d been so curious about!
By nature, Min-jun was the type to save the best for last, but this time he couldn’t resist.
Unable to contain himself, Min-jun opened the ultimate skill description window.
『Potential Amplification』
-Allows you to identify and amplify potential.
*Targets affected by Potential Amplification can surpass their level cap.
*Potential Amplification requires 100 essences of the same level as each target level.
*Potential Amplification cannot fail.
An ultimate skill even more broken than Interference had emerged.
‘…Wow.’
I read through the skill with pure admiration.
The material requirements were astronomical.
But in exchange, there was the condition that it couldn’t fail.
Wait a moment?
Then if I had 100 level 4 essences, I could make something level 5, couldn’t I?
For Min-jun, reaching the semifinals in enhancement was nothing special.
The success rate up to the semifinals was 100%, wasn’t it?
If I purchased 100 enhancement stones, that would be a +4 enhancement stone.
‘Our guild has twenty-five damage dealers and three tanks, with two of them at level 5. So level 4 would be twenty-six?’
In other words, I’d need 2,600 +4 enhancement stones.
The enhancement process itself didn’t take much time either.
With a comfortable margin, I figured I could produce them all within two weeks.
‘I’ll be able to give something good to Ji-hwan.’
An ultimate skill like this.
I’d imagined it, sure, but I never actually expected it to manifest.
Min-jun thought this while quickly reviewing the other skills as well.
And naturally, both skills were ones that would make anyone’s eyes go wide.
[Enhancement Master’s Butchering]
-When a monster dies in the presence of an Enhancement Master, the minimum enhancement value of items dropped by that monster becomes equal to the monster’s level.
[Continuous Enhancement]
-When attempting item enhancement, all enhancements with a 100% success rate are completed in a single attempt.
*Currently, attempting from +0 will result in +4 in a single enhancement.
*The mana consumed equals the mana cost of enhancing the item’s first enhancement value.
*You may choose to perform normal enhancement if you wish.
‘So the naturally +5 that appeared earlier was thanks to Butchering. And with Continuous Enhancement, the time will be drastically reduced?’
I’d managed to acquire excellent skills.
Enhancement Master’s Butchering and Continuous Enhancement.
Both were good, but Continuous Enhancement was truly exceptional.
It was essentially a convenience skill, so the effect could be considered ambiguous, but the timing was perfect.
It was a skill that let me produce enhancement stones like a factory, synergizing beautifully with potential enhancement.
It drastically reduced enhancement time and mana consumption.
When I checked various other details here.
The enhancement probabilities were similar.
Up to +4 was 100%, and the success rates afterward were like this.
*+4→+5 = 70% success rate, 30% failure rate.
*+5→+6 = 30% success rate, 50% failure rate, 20% destruction rate.
*+6→+7 = 15% success rate, 45% failure rate, 40% destruction rate.
*+7→+8 = 0.01% success rate, 19.99% failure rate, 80% destruction rate.
*Insufficient mana to enhance to +8.
*Please exercise caution when enhancing to +8.
*Insufficient level to enhance to +9.
‘Essentially, I shouldn’t attempt +8 yet.’
The destruction rate was a whopping 80%.
I’d definitely need enhancement stones, but +7 enhancement stones?
It would be better to use them rather than turn them into enhancement stones.
For now, let’s not even look at it.
Besides, the original body’s mana is insufficient as well.
Unless we’re going to carry around an absurd amount of enhanced mana stones, we shouldn’t touch it.
“Then let’s head back.”
Everyone agreed with Min-jun’s words and began preparing to leave.
By now, even Lai Wei-yuan had adapted and was nodding along.
4.
When the black dome first appeared, Taiwan’s hunters could only face an impending catastrophe.
A black dome that materialized without warning.
It repelled everyone’s entry as if to seal off access from within.
Level 5 hunters tried using their skills to see if they would work, but it was futile.
There was no way to provide support.
“What in the world is happening inside….”
“Please, let them be safe….”
“There’s no way they’ll survive!”
“W-we need to request support from China right now!”
Some hunters prayed for their safety even as panic gripped them, while others, more pragmatic, concluded they were doomed and insisted on requesting aid from China.
Both the Awakener’s Association and the government found themselves in an impossible situation.
They couldn’t see inside, and they couldn’t break through.
Should they simply wait?
Recalling Ma Hyun-seok’s confident demeanor, they thought perhaps it might be alright.
But how long would they have to wait?
In the worst case, they would all perish, the black dome would vanish, and that horrifying spider monster would be released.
They considered requesting support like the other pragmatic hunters, but it was already too late.
‘At the very fastest, it would take days.’
Dispatching hunters wasn’t actually an easy matter.
Especially not hunters capable of dealing with a Disaster Level 5 monster.
China would never provide a Level 6 hunter like Korea did.
No matter how much of a Disaster Level 5 monster it was, 5-star equipment didn’t just materialize out of thin air.
They would likely only send a few Level 5 hunters.
Rather, Korea had been remarkably swift and gracious in even dispatching Ma Hyun-seok.
But now that very support might become the worst possible outcome.
It was utterly horrifying.
Should the worst scenario unfold, both the government and the Awakener’s Association would be in an impossible bind, but they had no choice but to buy time using their own hunters as best they could.
“W-we should request support from other nations right now….”
“We already have. Before the hunters from Korea even arrived. We sent requests to Japan and India as well, but we haven’t even received a response yet.”
“Ah….”
They should have been grateful to Korea, who said they would come before the monster even stirred and arrived right after it awakened, yet in the face of a potentially catastrophic scenario, no one could bring themselves to remember that.
They could only be consumed by panic and desperately pray that things wouldn’t reach the worst outcome.
Then, the black dome dissolved like cotton candy melting in water.
The Taiwan Hunters, who had anticipated a monster bursting forth at any moment, were instead thrown into greater confusion by the absence of any such occurrence.
“Wh-what!?”
“It… it vanished!”
“The m-monster?”
“There’s no sign of it!”
“What on earth happened!?”
The Hunters wore expressions of utter bewilderment.
Perhaps because of that?
I belatedly noticed something amiss.
“The… the mountain?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Yushan has disappeared!?”
“Wh-what? How could the mountain just vanish… wait!?!??”
Yushan’s peak had truly vanished without a trace.
Taiwan’s highest mountain had simply ceased to exist.
How could this possibly have happened?
As everyone stood dumbfounded, a group descended from the mountain as if nothing were amiss.
It was Korea’s Reinforce Guild.
“H-huh!?”
“Not a single person was injured!?!?!?”
“?!!?!?”
“That’s more shocking than the fact that they captured it.”
“How on earth did they manage this!?”
“Is the world’s strongest Guild now decided?”
An Achievement no one had ever accomplished before.
A single Guild had captured a Disaster Level 5 monster.
Not merely contained it.
Captured it.
Even the world’s number one Guild had only managed to hold it back and drive it away.
Yet they had actually captured it.
They were undeniably the world’s greatest Guild.
The Taiwan Hunters, though they had not personally achieved this feat, took pride in such an Achievement being accomplished within their own nation.
“Surely those Guild members must feel the same way?”
“Hah! Exactly. Even we’re feeling proud about it! I can’t imagine how they must feel!”
“I can’t even fathom it.”
“Oh! Look, they’re talking to each other with joy!”
“Does anyone here speak Korean!? I’m dying to know what they’re saying!”
“What could they possibly be discussing after achieving the world’s greatest Achievement!?”
Everyone’s expressions were alight with excitement.
They had proven themselves to be the world’s greatest Guild!
I couldn’t understand Korean, but there was no mistaking it.
However, some Taiwan hunters who had learned Korean could tell their conversation was strange.
“Hey! Let’s go to the Night Market and grab some pad thai!”
“Huh? Isn’t pad thai Thai food?”
“What? Isn’t Taiwan Thailand?”
“Is this guy insane?”
“Lai Wei-yuan’s lost it.”
“Ah! I don’t know, but I never thought sightseeing could be this fun!”
“Everyone heard, right? We’re getting a week of rest here!”
“Wow, the benefits are insane.”
“Now this is what I call benefits!”
Though the Taiwan people who understood Korean heard some odd things, they pretended not to notice.
When their colleagues asked, they simply said they didn’t quite understand.
They figured it was just the disorientation from the situation.
That’s what they told themselves.
The people sent by the Taiwan Government were each surprised by the sight, and so was the Taiwan Awakener’s Association.
Earlier, with everything in chaos, even Lai Wei-yuan had slipped in among them without drawing much attention, but thinking about it now, it was a clear violation of protocol.
They might have had to pay quite a substantial penalty, but there was something more important.
So they hurriedly called Lai Wei-yuan and asked what was going on.
How had this happened?
But why was it that—
“…I’m afraid I cannot disclose the circumstances.”
“…I see.”
“Well….”
They spoke as if disappointed, but they understood that such confidentiality agreements were possible.
They had violated protocol, and it would be unconscionable to expect information now, yet they were desperately curious.
How had they managed to handle a Disaster Level 5 monster with just a single guild?
If this became known, it would cause an uproar.
But they had already signed an agreement before the raid, hadn’t they?
Since it was a nation-to-nation agreement, they couldn’t break it.
They also didn’t want to fall out of favor with the Reinforce Guild, which could handle Disaster Level 5 monsters without casualties.
And then Ma Hyun-seok approached them.
The negotiations were finished, but wouldn’t it be nice if they could extract a bit more?
Besides, there was also what Min-jun had asked for.
“We handled the monster well. I hear the Reinforce Guild would like to enjoy some rest in Taiwan….”
“Ah! Of course, we will make sure to treat them with the utmost hospitality.”
“Well, then I appreciate it. As agreed, we’ll take the items and mana stones obtained from the monster. Let’s discuss the matter of compensation after we move to another location. There were some oversights on your end as well.”
“Ah, of course. We will offer a sincere apology regarding Lai Wei-yuan.”
Now that negotiations were concluded, it was time to discuss when compensation could be paid.
Normally they would have rested, but thanks to Min-jun clearing away their physical fatigue on the way out, they felt refreshed, so Ma Hyun-seok stepped forward to handle it ahead of schedule.
And the Taiwan Government welcomed it as well.
It was better than dragging things out.
After all, they had eliminated the one who plunged all of Taiwan into despair.
Such treatment was only natural.
I decided I’d ask Lai Wei-yuan about the general situation later, even if not in detail, and so the people from the Taiwan Government, those from the Awakener’s Association, and Ma Hyun-seok moved to another location.
And among those who remained.
Lai Wei-yuan approached Min-jun with a slightly hesitant demeanor.
“…?”
Min-jun tilted his head as he watched Lai Wei-yuan approach him.
Did he have some business?
Now that he thought about it, that made sense.
“I apologize for intruding without permission.”
“Ah, well, we’ve already made a confidentiality agreement anyway. It’s fine.”
Since Ma Hyun-seok had already promised to bring back appropriate compensation, this level of apology was sufficient.
But why?
Lai Wei-yuan remained even as Min-jun said it was fine.
Did he have something more to say?
Min-jun thought so and looked at Lai Wei-yuan.
Then Lai Wei-yuan spoke.
“Would it be possible for me to join your guild as well? While I do feel apologetic, I was deeply impressed by your Reinforce Guild.”
“Oh!”
In fact, Min-jun hadn’t dismissed the idea entirely.
But Lai Wei-yuan was genuinely Taiwan’s greatest hunter.
Though he was Level 5, in Korean terms he was comparable to Ma Hyun-seok.
I hadn’t thought it would be possible to bring such a person into the guild as a member.
But if he directly wanted it?
That changed things.
It would become possible if I negotiated sufficiently with Taiwan.
‘This is good.’
A new Level 5 hunter.
And a dealer at that!
Min-jun’s expression became quite satisfied, and he immediately used the Scout skill.
What would his ability stats be?
[Lai Wei-yuan]
-Lv. 5(5)
-Ability Stats: 7.
“….”
Ability stats lower even than Won Eun-seong’s.
Min-jun’s expression stiffened slightly upon confirming this, but he smiled without showing it too much.
Jung Ji-hwan quickly caught on and spoke.
“I’ll give it some thought, but inviting Lai Wei-yuan, Taiwan’s hero, to the guild feels a bit overwhelming.”
“Jung Ji-hwan is right. I’m truly grateful for the offer, but I’d like to think it over a bit more.”
“Ah….”
Lai Wei-yuan’s disappointment was evident, but Min-jun thought there was nothing to be done about it.
‘Seven crossed the line.’
The members with the lowest ability stats in the Reinforce Guild were Park Min-ho and Cha Hae-yeon.
Both of their ability stats were 9.
And even that was largely because they were accepted as tanks.
But 7?
‘I’d rather recruit Won Eun-seong instead.’
In the past, I might have been tempted by level 5 and brought him in, but not anymore.
With that regret, Lai Wei-yuan departed.
Min-jun asked Jung Ji-hwan as if he’d just remembered something.
“Do you happen to have any schedule?”
“Guild Master Min-jun’s schedule is….”
“Oh, no. I meant your schedule, not mine, Jung Ji-hwan.”
“My schedule is the same as Guild Master Min-jun’s, so I have none.”
While raiding, I’d been enhancing low-grade equipment like crazy during spare moments, so level 4 equipment was overflowing.
I could enhance about four level 4 hunters right away.
And the first one was naturally already decided.
Watching Jung Ji-hwan respond, Min-jun grinned and asked.
“Are you ready to become level 5?”
“…!”
At those words, Jung Ji-hwan’s mouth fell open in rare surprise.
This was exactly the reaction I wanted.
“W-wait, really?”
Jung Ji-hwan’s voice even trembled at those words—a rare occurrence.
Could level 5 really be possible?
With that thought, Min-jun nodded and, as if to prove it, grinned and spoke when no one was around.
“Potential Enhancement.”
A brilliant light enveloped Jung Ji-hwan, and soon a message appeared.
[You break through your limits with mysterious power.]
[Your level cap increases.]
[You have accumulated substantial experience.]
[Your level has risen.]
[You have reached level 5 and acquired an ultimate skill.]
The message he’d longed for so desperately.
He was the one who’d hit his limit and been called a half-wit his entire life.
And now, that very self had risen to a level he’d never even dared dream of.
Jung Ji-hwan looked at the message, then at Min-jun, and bowed deeply as he spoke.
“I will devote my lifelong loyalty to you.”
“W-wait?! I’m just doing this to thank you for all your hard work! Really, it’s fine.”
Even as Min-jun spoke, Jung Ji-hwan made no move to rise.
Unlike the calm tone of his voice, his eyes had grown moist, and he remained kneeling for a long while to hide the glistening tears gathering at their corners.

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