Chapter 14. S-Rank Enhancement Engraving (1)
When Seok Taejun left his hometown, many people came to see him off.
He felt guilty about being the only one leaving, but his companions congratulated their leader for getting a new opportunity.
After that, Seok Taejun took the Chimera with him and set off alongside Kang Yujin.
“This is the city you were talking about, right?”
“Yes. We can take a train from here to the metropolitan area.”
Cars had once been widely used, but after the descent of the Fantasy Great Realm threw the world into chaos, securing enough oil became difficult.
Because of that, ordinary people could no longer easily use cars.
Trains, however, were still operating, so taking a train had become the normal method of traveling long distances.
The city they had arrived at was several days away from Seok Taejun’s hometown on foot.
Since it had a train station, it had naturally become the central city of the surrounding region.
“Kang Yujin, there’s somewhere I’d like to stop by before we take the train.”
“Where?”
“I need to use my Enhancement Crystal.”
“Enhancement Crystal?”
“You should have received one from the ‘Cursed Mountain Village’ quest too.”
Hearing that, Kang Yujin searched inside his protective suit.
“You mean this jewel? I have one.”
“Yes. You can use that jewel to enhance your abilities or equipment.”
Defeating monsters or clearing quests did not cause someone to level up and automatically gain stats.
If someone wanted to increase their physical strength, ordinary strength training was still the basic method.
However, Enhancement Crystals could grant a bonus on top of a person’s existing physical abilities.
“How do we use it? Do we ask an Apostle?”
“Even an Apostle can’t do this. Only someone with the Engraving Technique skill can handle Enhancement Crystals.”
In fact, Cheon Muhyeok had possessed that skill back in their hometown, so everyone had often relied on him.
“There are places that specialize in it. Let’s go this way.”
After walking for quite some time, Seok Taejun finally arrived at their destination with Kang Yujin.
“This is a branch of the Association.”
“Association?”
“The Contractor Association. Though calling it an ‘association’ is a bit misleading. It doesn’t actually represent all Contractors. It’s basically just a business that provides services to Contractors.”
After explaining, Seok Taejun entered the building.
There were quite a lot of Contractors inside.
“They offer all kinds of services for Contractors, so a lot of people use this place.”
“Hmm…”
They went deeper inside, completed the registration process, and waited for their turn.
Before long, Seok Taejun noticed people staring at them.
“Hey, what’s that? Isn’t that a Chimera?”
“They tamed a Chimera? Seriously?”
It seemed the Chimera was attracting attention.
Maybe we should dress it in dog clothes or something whenever we’re in public.
“But isn’t it way too small? Is it a baby?”
“Maybe they stole it while its mother wasn’t around?”
“That sounds pretty pathetic.”
“Come to think of it, I’ve never seen those guys around here before.”
“Don’t their equipment look kind of shabby too?”
“They must be country bumpkins from the sticks.”
Some of the Contractors were openly mocking them.
Normally, Seok Taejun might have picked a fight if his companions had been with him.
But since he was currently traveling with Kang Yujin, he decided to simply ignore them.
“Kang Yujin, is there a particular stat you want to enhance?”
“I’m not sure. How does enhancement work?”
“Basically, there are four stats: Strength, Stamina, Agility, and Magic Power.”
As he spoke, Seok Taejun moved his hand through the air and opened his status window.
His current stats were fairly decent.
Cheon Muhyeok had once told him that his Strength and Stamina were especially good.
However, those numbers did not represent Seok Taejun’s true combat power.
They were merely his physical abilities as an ordinary human.
“When an Enhancement Crystal is refined, it creates an ‘Enhancement Engraving’ that strengthens one of those four stats. A Contractor only begins to display truly superhuman power after receiving these engravings.”
At present, Seok Taejun’s status window showed:
[Strength Enhancement: D+]
[Stamina Enhancement: C]
This meant he had received a D-rank Strength Enhancement Engraving twice and a C-rank Stamina Enhancement Engraving once.
Those enhancements were considered low-level among Contractors.
Even so, they were enough to give him physical strength and stamina far beyond an ordinary human.
“I didn’t have anything like that.”
“That’s because you’re… a special case, Kang Yujin.”
“Can you choose whatever enhancement you want?”
“No. The thing is…”
Just then, it became Seok Taejun and Kang Yujin’s turn, interrupting their conversation.
They approached the counter that handled Enhancement Engravings.
An employee sitting behind the desk greeted them.
“You’re Kang Yujin and Seok Taejun, correct? We’ll start with Kang Yujin. Please tell me the Constellation Name of the Constellation you’re contracted with.”
“Constellation Name?”
“The name of your Constellation.”
“Why do you need that?”
“We need to enter it into our records before processing your enhancement.”
“It doesn’t have a name.”
“…What?”
“My Constellation doesn’t have a name.”
The employee frowned.
“Are you messing with me right now?”
“It really doesn’t. What do you want me to do about it?”
“W-Wait a moment.”
Seok Taejun hurriedly leaned forward.
“Is the name absolutely necessary? As far as I know, the enhancement can still be done without entering a Constellation Name.”
“It’s our policy.”
“Policy?”
“You know that different Constellations have different tendencies when it comes to Enhancement Engravings, right?”
Of course Seok Taejun knew.
He had been about to explain that part to Kang Yujin earlier.
Enhancement Engravings were basically random.
An engraving could enhance one of four stats—Strength, Stamina, Agility, or Magic Power.
Its rank could also range from D-rank, the lowest, all the way to S-rank, the highest.
However, the probability of receiving each type and rank depended on the Constellation.
For example, someone contracted with a mage-type Constellation was more likely to receive a Magic Power Enhancement Engraving.
Additionally, the higher the rank of the Constellation, the greater the chance of receiving a high-rank engraving.
That’s why everyone tries so hard to contract with powerful Constellations.
If you contract with a good Constellation, becoming stronger is much easier.
If someone contracted with a low-rank Constellation, they would mostly receive D-rank or C-rank engravings.
Eventually, they would hit a limit to their growth.
Receiving two identical engravings did not double their effects either.
Even if someone received multiple D-rank engravings, the increase would remain around the D-rank level.
It would still be inferior to receiving a single C-rank engraving.
That was why Contractors desperately wanted to form contracts with Constellations that had a high probability of producing powerful engravings.
“The Association provides Enhancement Engraving services for free. In exchange, we collect the results and analyze which Constellations tend to produce certain engravings.”
The employee continued.
“We’re basically building a large database.”
“I see…”
“That’s why you have to tell us your Constellation Name.”
Seok Taejun found himself in an awkward situation.
How was he supposed to explain this in a way that would convince the employee?
“Seok Taejun.”
At that moment, Kang Yujin spoke from beside him.
“Let’s just tell her. We don’t have a choice.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I didn’t want to tell anyone that it was a D-rank Constellation, but there’s no helping it.”
“Ah.”
Seok Taejun immediately realized what Kang Yujin meant.
He wants me to give them the name of the D-rank Constellation I used to be contracted with!
It would technically introduce incorrect information into the Association’s statistics.
But given the circumstances, they had little choice.
“Actually…”
Seok Taejun gave the employee the name of his former Constellation.
The employee wrote it down with an expression that seemed to say, You should’ve just said that from the beginning.
The nearby Contractors who had been listening seemed to be laughing at them.
Seok Taejun ignored them.
“Then please submit your Enhancement Crystal.”
Kang Yujin handed over his jewel first.
“What kind of engraving usually comes from a D-rank Constellation?”
“Usually D-rank. There’s over a ninety-percent chance.”
“What about S-rank?”
“The probability would be below one percent. Now, place your hand over the crystal.”
Kang Yujin placed his hand on top of the Enhancement Crystal.
The employee covered his hand with both of hers and closed her eyes.
A faint light appeared.
Then, a moment later—
Crack!
The Enhancement Crystal shattered into pieces.
“What? Why did it break?”
“Kang Yujin, that’s how an engraving is created.”
When the employee removed her hands, a strange pattern appeared on the back of Kang Yujin’s hand.
