God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 135: Episode 26_Let’s Mix ’n’ Eat (6)

9.

The Kenji Guild, having fled the area, only stopped after putting a significant distance behind them.

"How many people took the awakening potion?"

"Eleven. Guild Master."

"Not many."

One-tenth.

The burden of having to protect the remaining ninety people approached heavily. But Kenji was not tense.

"Form a circle centering around the players who can’t see."

"Yes!"

The remaining people were different from the expedition. They were players who had been coordinating hands and feet all day for months already! Although the number of personnel who could participate in combat wasn’t many, it was enough.

"When the fog lifts, we must prepare a way for the players not participating in combat to help as well."

"Yes, Guild Master."

The betrayal was already a done deed!

His name would be mud a little, but he didn’t care. Fantastic World, like reality, has no reason for a corporation’s reputation to always be saintly. If he made a name for himself even in a bad way, he was satisfied with that.

Surely there would be many players like Kenji. Or there could be contact from players who want to express inner desires they couldn’t express in reality within the game.

Diversity! Freedom!

The meaning this gives is significant.

Therefore, he did not regret it. There was regret that he shouldn’t have formed the expedition in the first place, but still, since he found out the way to overcome the fog faster than expected through Han Simin, from now on, he just had to proceed with the Main Quest, which was the original purpose, based on that.

’The gold mine...’

It couldn’t be helped.

There was no guarantee Han Simin would obediently guide them to the gold mine, nor certainty that a real gold mine existed. It was an expedition he had set out on thinking it would be nice if he got it.

Plus, since the expedition itself exploded, what was the use of finding the gold mine?

"They’re coming!"

As he faced reality, a new fortune arrived.

Although the vision wasn’t bright, seeing the figures of monsters approaching in the fog felt truly like discovering an oasis in the desert!

They had to face nearly twenty monsters with a little over ten people, but Kenji laughed. Compared to the time when they were struggling unable to face a mere few dozen with a thousand people, this was heaven.

The battle began.

* * *

Unfortunately for Simin, fanning the flames didn’t affect the homeowner, who didn’t care if the house burned down or not. However, even without knowing that, Han Simin secured a result that compensated for his effort with an unexpected bonus.

[Level has risen.]

"Whaaaat? Level up? Holy sh*t!"

He paused momentarily at the hologram that appeared while he was picking up items and dealing with the interfering Human Hunters.

The screaming sounds continued until the Human Hunters’ bellies were full, but even so, Han Simin’s silence was not broken.

Overwhelming emotion!

"Ah. I was a player whose level rises too."

He had forgotten for a while.

It was understandable to forget. Hadn’t he been stuck at level 42 for months already?

The feeling was new.

He really hadn’t been hunting. No matter that he carried a 550% required experience penalty, considering the places he went every day were hunting grounds of at least level 70, to think he hadn’t hunted enough for his level to rise even once.

He might have gone right up to the brink of leveling up with accumulated experience. But even if that were the situation, hadn’t he died once already?

Even though his experience points were cut after dying, his level rose just by dealing with a few monsters sticking to him annoyingly here.

Proper judgment wasn’t possible due to the emotion, but the meaning this implied was singular.

"So this is what experience honey meant."

He was certain.

The Unknown Mountain Range was definitely a hunting ground that was endlessly absurd, hard to adapt to, and wouldn’t become comfortable even if adapted to for players, but it was clear that it was a hunting ground where one could pack away a ridiculous amount of experience points to match.

The devil’s level?

Rather, the high-level players gaining experience here would surge ahead even faster.

Fully aware of this, Han Simin secured a result that compensated for his effort with an unexpected bonus.

[Level has risen.]

"Hah? A level up? Holy sh*t!"

He paused momentarily, staring at the hologram that appeared while he was busy looting items and dealing with the interfering Human Hunters.

The screaming continued as the rabbits filled their bellies, but Han Simin remained silent.

Overwhelming emotion washed over him.

’Ah. That’s right. I’m a player whose level rises, too.’

He had forgotten that fact for a while.

It was understandable. Hadn’t he been stuck at level 42 for months?

The sensation was novel.

Truthfully, he hadn’t been hunting properly. Despite his massive 550% required experience penalty, and considering he visited level 70+ zones daily, it was absurd that he hadn’t leveled up even once.

He might have been on the brink of leveling up with accumulated experience. But even if that were the case, hadn’t he died once already?

Even though his experience points were cut after dying, leveling up just by dealing with a few monsters that were annoyingly clinging to him meant one thing.

Proper judgment wasn’t possible due to the surge of emotion, but the implication was singular.

’So this is what they meant by an experience honey pot.’

He was certain.

The Unknown Mountain Range was definitely a hunting ground that was endlessly absurd, hard to adapt to, and wouldn’t become comfortable even if one did adapt. However, it was clearly a hunting ground where one could pack away a ridiculous amount of experience points in return.

The devil’s level?

No. Rather, high-level players gaining experience here would surge ahead even faster. It would just be a difference of how quickly they adapted and how much speed they could squeeze out of this place.

"In that case..."

Naturally, Han Simin had already adapted.

He had just become indifferent to hunting, escaping reality by telling himself the game was about money, not levels. But he was a man ready to hunt as much as necessary once he started.

"There sure is a lot of prey."

Changing his mindset made the world look different.

He temporarily put aside the urge to pick up the items littering the ground as fast as possible.

Instead, experience points filled his vision.

"Let’s leave them be for a moment."

He couldn’t just run wild like a dog in heat.

Killing two birds with one stone!

He would get experience and items.

The Human Hunters wouldn’t stop at hunting a set number of humans anyway.

He waited for the right moment, whittling down their numbers little by little.

Just as one round of hell was coming to an end...

"You bastards! How dare you attack our expedition! Die! Die!"

Han Simin, returning as an apostle of justice, slaughtered the Human Hunters who were trying to retreat while clutching their full bellies.

[Level has risen.]

And for the first time since starting 『Fantastic World』, he felt the true joy of leveling up.

* * *

10.

When the fog lifted, fewer than 200 people remained.

About 100 Kenji Guild members had fled, and the rest were dead.

Even counting the deserters, it was a significant number, but could a house stand without its pillars?

"Let’s go back."

"Agreed. There’s no reason to stay here..."

"Let’s go back and demand answers."

Boiling with anger but relieved to be alive, they gave up hope of advancing further.

"Wait, but are we going to get our gold?"

"Do you think he’d give it to us? He abandoned everything and ran. We never signed a contract, and even if we did, it’s just a game."

"Ugh. I came because they kept yapping about being the number one guild."

Above all, the emptiness of wasted time couldn’t be filled by anything.

Naturally, anger rose.

In reality, they would have suffered alone against an insurmountable wall, but this was a game.

Betrayal was Kenji’s choice with no restrictions, but conversely, their anger could freely be directed at him.

"I want revenge."

"I’m definitely going to get him back later."

Of course, it would be difficult.

"But I heard Kenji is a noble."

"If you mess with him the wrong way, you’ll go straight to jail."

"The game is just as dirty and cheap as reality."

"Damn it. Spit."

Regardless, the resentful players grouped up and turned back.

Han Simin slipped away from them.

It wasn’t a strange sight since the 200 people didn’t leave as one single group. They scattered into their own clusters.

Han Simin tailed the largest group.

From a distance.

As time passed and the fog descended again...

SHRIEK!

KIK-KIK!

Experience points flocked in again.

’This place is a real bonanza.’

As his pockets grew heavier, his affection for the Unknown Mountain Range deepened.

* * *

It was truly a jackpot hunt.

For normal people, experience is the main reason for hunting and byproducts are extra income. But for Han Simin, who was the opposite, there was no hunt more perfect than this.

"Crazy. At this rate, I’ll hit level 50."

He was already level 46.

Of course, to get there, almost all the other players had died, and the number of Human Hunters he killed was immeasurable.

But the anxiety that he might quit the game without ever hitting level 50 had vanished.

"I’m happy."

So he was able to return with light steps.

"I should do some hunting too," he said, setting a new goal.

"Gasp! My lord! What is all this...?"

"Killer, right? Sell all of this and develop the territory quickly."

"O-Of course!"

Main Quest?

He didn’t need any of that.

He wasn’t interested.

Right now, Han Simin was aiming for only one thing: making money by exploiting a niche market.

To do that, he needed more thorough preparation.

"Mr. Nodaji, can you come right now?"

And Han Simin had prepared for this situation in advance.

* * *

11.

Nodaji had been happy lately.

Ever since he gave up his family’s traditional livelihood to jump into the game, his wife, whose face had always been shadowed, started laughing. And he could buy chicken—though not often—for his daughter, who never once complained about wanting delicious food because she was afraid of burdening her dad.

’It’s all thanks to him.’

Even though Simin looked younger than him, what did that matter?

If they give you money, they’re your big brother, your boss, and your master.

Above all, he was incredibly grateful that Simin paid tens of dollars for items that looked useless to him.

’He must be buying them at a high price on purpose.’

His misunderstanding was plausible.

Even though he hadn’t played long, he had studied various sources of information to earn money once he started, and he knew the ring he obtained had options normal players avoided.

Even as a talisman, tens of dollars was an incomprehensible price.

So he was grateful.

Even if it was charity, it didn’t matter.

As long as his family could be happy.

’Let’s earn while we can.’

With that mindset, he changed his class to Tomb Raider and dug graves diligently.

While he didn’t forget to dig herbs as a side job, he spent almost all his time digging graves.

Han Simin hadn’t called him lately, perhaps because he was busy, but Nodaji gathered everything he thought Simin might like.

He might never call again, but Nodaji trusted and waited.

In fact, even if he wasn’t called again, he had nothing to lose.

The items obtained from grave robbing were all extra income anyway.

The money earned from selling herbs wasn’t much different before or after becoming a Tomb Raider.

Waiting like that, the opportunity came.

As soon as he received Han Simin’s call, he dropped everything, ran over, and poured out everything he had collected so far.

"Wow. Why is there so much?"

"Haha. I dug diligently. If there’s anything you need, just say the word."

By his standards, he couldn’t understand it, but there were a few items with higher grades than the ones Han Simin had happily bought before.

He proudly presented those first.

"Since you chose this option last time, I set this aside separately."

Han Simin’s eyes widened upon checking the item.

"Whoa. What is this? How did something like this..."

"Actually, I’m a Tomb Raider. Digging diligently makes these pop up occasionally. Of course, they don’t drop often, so there’s only one."

"...Wow."

Han Simin let out a pure exclamation of admiration.

At the same time, his expectations soared.

[Precious Ring from the Grave]

- Grade: Epic Unique

- Wear Level: 45

- Option 1: Item Drop Rate +1%

- Option 2: Item Drop Rate +1%

’He’ll give me at least $200, right?’

Numerically, it was four times better than the last one, so he had hope that he might receive even more.

But what returned to him was not that.

"Excuse me. Do you have any thoughts of joining a guild?"

"...Pardon?"

The devil’s hand reached out to him.

* * *