Junhyuk’s jaw hung loose, and he asked, “You are going to pay me two million gold?”

“No. I would sell it for that amount, so I’ll buy it for a million gold. Are you selling it?”

Junhyuk shook his head ferociously. He could sell it to Vera for 70 percent of that: 1.4 million gold. Because he already had a buyer, Vera, he didn’t need to sell it to Bebe.

However, a problem still remained. Vera had probably bet all of her gold on his victory, so if he lost, she would lose it all. Junhyuk reminded himself again that he had to win and put the ring away in his Spatial Bag.

“I want to ask you about enhancement stones.”

“Enhancement stones?”

Bebe stared at him, and he pulled out a stone from his Spatial Bag. As Bebe watched it happen, he smiled.

“The victory reward enhancement stone.”

“Yes, I want to know how to use it.”

Bebe took the stone and asked, “What do you want to upgrade?”

Junhyuk handed him the Blood Rune Sword, and Bebe chuckled and said, “Look over here. When you push the enhancement stone against an item you are upgrading, you’ll hear a message. You don’t have to answer it verbally. Just think the answer. That’s all.”

“Simple enough.”

“The reward enhancement stones are of a different quality than the ones I sell. They are of lower quality, but they are free, so it’s to be expected. However, it’s always better to use them than not. You can do three basic upgrades. After that, the chance it’ll work drops by 50 percent.”

Junhyuk frowned. The success rate for the fourth upgrade was 50 percent, and for the fifth, it was 25 percent.

He looked at both of his swords. Junhyuk had six stones, so he wondered if he should do all the basic upgrades for the both of them, or if he should try to upgrade just one sword all the way.

Gongon looked at him and said, “You need at least one sword you can count on.”

Smiling bitterly, Junhyuk pulled out all of the stones.

“Give it to me.”

“One has already been upgraded.”

“I know.”

He looked at the Blood Rune Sword and placed the stone against it. At that moment, he heard a soft voice in his head.

[Do you want to upgrade the Blood Rune Sword?]

“Yes.”

Junhyuk didn’t have to, but he answered the question aloud by habit. Suddenly, the enhancement stone turned into powder and sprinkled over the sword, seeping into it.

[The upgrade was a success. It is now a Blood Rune Sword (+2)]

Thinking about what Gongon had said, he used all of the remaining enhancement stones on the Blood Rune Sword. Looking at the result, he sighed.

“The fifth upgrade is a success!”

He had failed once when going to the fifth upgrade from the fourth, but eventually, it had worked.

While Junhyuk sighed, Gongon pulled out his enhancement stones, and Junhyuk stared at the dragon’s ten stones wondering how many upgrades Gongon would be able to do. The success rate diminished with each upgrade after all.

Gongon started doing his own upgrades, and when he finished, Junhyuk asked, “How many upgrades were you able to do?”

“Nine.”

Junhyuk’s mouth hung wide, and checking out the weapon in his hand, Gongon smiled.

“I like these enhancement stones.”

Junhyuk stuck his tongue out at the hatchling. The damage of the weapon increased by five with the first upgrade, ten with the second, fifteen with the third and, starting with the fourth upgrade, damage increased by ten plus the previous amount each time. Bebe also explained that it would increase by twenty plus the previous amount starting with the seventh upgrade and thirty plus the previous amount starting with the ninth. So, the first was five, second was ten, third was fifteen, fourth was twenty-five, fifth was thirty-five, sixth was forty-five, seventh was sixty-five, eighth was eighty-five, and the ninth was a hundred and fifteen.

Junhyuk knew his ability to deal damage had gone up. The Blood Rune Sword (+5) was doing an extra ninety damage. Gongon’s weapon, on the other hand, was doing four hundred more damage.

Now, he understood why Artlan only spent money on upgrades. Succeeding in the upgrades was better than getting a new item. Enhancement stones were expensive, but considering the results, the cost wasn’t bad at all.

A single ring was worth two million gold.

The enhancement stones were somewhat of a gamble, but the benefits were significant and certain.

Junhyuk turned to Gongon, and the hatchling pulled out some items from his Spatial Bag. Junhyuk was amazed at the sight of the equipment. Even at a glance, it was obvious they weren’t ordinary items.

However, when Bebe saw them, he murmured, “Compared to last time, these are garbage.”

“Nothing I can do about it. Compared to the Lord’s items, these aren’t very nice.”

“These are worth fifty thousand each. There are twenty, so I will pay you a million gold.”

“OK. Give me five hundred thousand worth in candy and something from the Kali set.”

“I only have the necklace from that set.”

Smiling, Gongon said, “That’s fine. Give it to me.”

Gongon placed the astronomical number pieces of candy in the Spatial Bag and also took the necklace.

Junhyuk looked at the hatchling. With two pieces of the Kali set, Gongon’s critical hit chance had been boosted by 10 percent, and now he had one more item from it. On top of that, Gongon had upgraded his weapon nine times. The hatchling was significantly stronger now.

Junhyuk clicked his tongue as he witnessed it happening. Gongon’s base stats were already beyond him, and being that he was a dragon, he was growing stronger really fast.

Junhyuk shook his head. It was a good thing that his ally was getting stronger. There was no need for him to be envious of it.

After putting on the necklace, Gongon said, “Let’s go.”

“OK.”

They had done what they needed to do, so it was time to go. After coming out, Junhyuk asked, “What is the set item’s effect?”

“Critical-hit damage increases by 20 percent. It doesn’t help at all when it’s not a critical.”

When a critical landed, it was almost like the effect of a buff. Shocked, Junhyuk stared at Gongon, but the hatchling just said calmly, “Let’s destroy the tower first. Where did you tell Aktur to go?”

“Wait.”

Junhyuk connected to Aktur.

“Aktur.”

“Where are you?”

“We just left Bebe’s. Now, we’re thinking of destroying the second bottom tower.”

“I’ll head there.”

“OK. Then, see you there.”

Giving Gongon a piggyback ride, Junhyuk ran. The watchtower could be easily destroyed if their enemies weren’t there, but he ran with ease, expecting to meet them.

Gongon’s upgrades were enormous, but Junhyuk had also upgraded his weapon five times. He was curious about how that would impact the Spatial Slash, and if he could use his acceleration again.

He wanted to meet the enemy.

—

They destroyed the second tower, but did not meet any enemies. After that, they joined Aktur and the lizardmen Aktur had brought with him. When they reached the castle wall, they saw their enemies waiting for them.

When Gongon saw them blocking the castle, he smiled.

“We can now fight in earnest.”

Kraken’s defense was high, but Gongon was a lot stronger now. Meanwhile, Junhyuk scoped them out. The enemies’ combination was quite dangerous, so the allies couldn’t let their guards down.

Wagging his tail, Gongon shouted, “Forward!”

The lizardmen ran ahead ferociously, and Gongon moved behind them. Junhyuk followed the hatchling while keeping an eye on everything.

The Spatial Slash could cover a distance greater than his enemies’ range, and he decided on his target. Junhyuk wanted to prevent Kilraden from doing anything. Looking at the a.s.sa.s.sin, Junhyuk used the Spatial Slash, curious about the damage it would do. However, when he used the Spatial Slash, Kilraden disappeared. He hadn’t expected that.

He wasn’t sure whether Kilraden had dodged by hiding, or if it had happened by coincidence. Nevertheless, the Spatial Slash tore through empty s.p.a.ce.

His eyes widened, and Kraken ran in their direction. Once closer, Kraken hit Gongon without hesitation.

Boom!

Gongon was pushed back by the shock, but mounted his own attack. The enemies weren’t aware of how much Gongon’s ability to deal damage had grown. Junhyuk thought even Kraken wouldn’t be able to withstand an attack from the hatchling.

Kraken spit out the black ink and attempted a headb.u.t.t while everyone was blinded. But, unworried, Junhyuk raised his force field.

Kilraden was hiding, and the force field would also keep him from attacking while giving them time to recover their eyesight. Gongon wiped his eyes while inside the force field and looked around.

They had wasted the force field to recover their vision, but in doing so, Junhyuk saw Kilraden appearing behind the other enemies.

Junhyuk had also wasted the Spatial Slash, but Kilraden had done the same with his ability to hide. However, Junhyuk knew he had lost more than the a.s.sa.s.sin.

“Let’s attack,” he said, and the group ran forward. Kraken, Nid and Kilraden all retreated, but the allies were closing in. Taking the lead, Junhyuk shouted, “Aktur!”

Aktur’s eyes beamed, and he launched his bandages, which flew and wrapped around Kilraden. As the a.s.sa.s.sin got pulled, the force field disappeared.

Aktur had a lot of actual combat experience, and it was shining through. He had timed the pull just right, and the allies concentrated their attacks on Kilraden. All three of them did.

However, Kilraden disappeared. The a.s.sa.s.sin had used his teleportation. Junhyuk launched himself where Kilraden had been standing, but then he looked at Gongon, and the a.s.sa.s.sin appeared behind the dragon.

He stabbed Gongon’s neck, which was a critical hit, and Gongon lost 15 percent of his health. Exasperated, Gongon swung his tail behind him, but Kilraden had already disappeared and reappeared stabbing Gongon’s ribs.

It wasn’t a critical hit, so Gongon only lost 8 percent of his health. When Gongon turned to face Kilraden, the a.s.sa.s.sin teleported again and stabbed Gongon’s neck once more. Another critical.

Gongon was infuriated and transformed in an attempt to catch the a.s.sa.s.sin, but Kilraden ducked, and Gongon’s fists pa.s.sed him by. That’s when he activated the counterattack.

It was another critical, and Gongon lost 24 percent of his health at once.

Suddenly, Gongon was left with 38 percent. If that continued, the hatchling would be in danger. Meanwhile, Nid was spinning toward the allies.

When Junhyuk saw Nid, he frowned. If Nid howled, things would go from bad to worse. So, Junhyuk ran toward the spinning enemy. But, Nid pa.s.sed him by, and once he stood in front of the allies, the champion opened his mouth. That’s when Junhyuk turned around, grabbed Nid and teleported away.

Gongon couldn’t afford to get hit by the howl, so Junhyuk used his teleportation, but once they reappeared, Nid howled, and Junhyuk was paralyzed. At that point, Nid focused his attacks on him.

The situation had changed, but Nid was taking advantage of it. After the howl, every hit was a critical, and Junhyuk started losing health quickly. Still, he could take it.

While Junhyuk was under attack, Gongon headb.u.t.ted Kilraden. Gongon was transformed, and the attack was a critical hit, taking 82 percent off of Kilraden’s health. Gongon tried to follow up with a punch, but Kilraden dodged it and swung his dagger. In response, Gongon used his firebreath on the a.s.sa.s.sin. The flames covered Kraken as well, who was coming up behind Kilraden.

The a.s.sa.s.sin was getting into position when he faded from existence.

[Gongon killed Kilraden.]

Unable to do much about the firebreath, the a.s.sa.s.sin died. Gongon was a lot stronger. He might even be much stronger than Kilraden, who also had a high attack stat.

That was the power of the upgrade.

Kilraden was gone, and Gongon ran toward Kraken. Meanwhile, Aktur summoned the skeleton soldiers and focused on Kraken as well.

The two could kill the octopus.

Seeing them, Junhyuk looked at Nid. He had regained his movement, but he had lost 40 percent of his health in the process. Still, he knew he wouldn’t lose.

“You are mine.”