God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 54: Episode 11 _ A Single Serving Is Meant to Be Eaten Alone (3)

Chapter 54: Episode 11 _ A Single Serving Is Meant to Be Eaten Alone (3)

3.

While the Specialists were kicking off an all-out brawl, Han Simin was standing in darkness.

‘What is this? Shouldn’t something be happening by now?’ After waiting for what felt like an eternity, he got bored and started walking. All he could see was pitch-black darkness, but he figured something had to show up eventually.

Flash.

Thankfully, his guess was correct. His vision suddenly cleared, revealing a vast, open cavern, a dome-shaped space! Luminous stones dotted the cavern, bathing it in a beautiful, ethereal glow. ‘Quite the atmosphere.’

“What the...” But he couldn’t admire it for long. Because of the being standing before him. “...Is that me?”

To his astonishment, a man who looked exactly like him was glaring back. Was it a doppelgänger? There was no other way to explain it.

“Forget explaining it, what is it doing here?” In someone else’s tomb, no less. It was supposed to have been here for at least a hundred years. Did this even make sense?

The doppelgänger said nothing.

While Simin stood there dumbfounded, his look-alike picked up a set of armor and a weapon from the floor. The resplendent gear looked powerful at a single glance, a testament to the fact that this was indeed the tomb of a legend. More importantly, it was clearly showing its intent to fight him, the intruder.

“Well, there has to be something like this, I guess. It is a ruin containing the legacy of a Legendary job, after all.” He’d have to think more about why the entry condition was simply possessing a Legendary job and not being the successor to the Legendary Enhancement Master specifically.

But right now, the Simin in front of him was the priority.

“...Calling him Han Simin feels weird.” ‘Do I have to kill myself? For some reason, my resolve is weakening.’ He cautiously drew his dagger, staying on guard. In any case, it felt like some kind of guardian of the ruin. Besides, the NPCs had said that anyone who didn’t meet the conditions died, so it had to be strong.

Step, step, step.

He focused his gaze on the approaching doppelgänger. ‘I have to block this!’

Clang.

It was a fast movement, but not impossible to block. If he had to compare...

‘He’s... exactly like me?’

‘What is this? Is this really the guardian?’ It was too early to jump to conclusions, but if its appearance and setup were that of a true doppelgänger, it made sense that it would copy his exact stats. But then what was the difference? Wasn’t this just a fifty-fifty chance of winning?

The moment he thought that, the doppelgänger deflected the crossed blade, sending Simin’s dagger flying into the air. He wasn’t an idiot; he knew what attack was coming next.

Whoosh.

But the image only formed in his mind; he couldn’t move his body to react. It was too late. In a fight between equals, giving an inch was fatal. Since his opponent was also thinking ahead, the incoming attack was unavoidable.

Thud.

The sword pierced Simin’s heart. It was a perfect defeat. In that moment, the doppelgänger’s terrifying nature was revealed. It shared the intruder’s appearance and stats, but its experience and skill were entirely its own. With a hundred years of accumulated combat experience, it was naturally far more skilled than Simin.

The doppelgänger smiled.

“What are you grinning at, you bastard?” And Simin smiled back.

Stab.

The +15 dagger plunged into an opening born from overconfidence. Staggering from the unimaginable damage, the doppelgänger was relentlessly stabbed again and again. The feeling of killing himself was unsettling, but...

“Hahahaha! What’s wrong? Couldn’t copy my items?”

The doppelgänger said nothing.

Where else but in a game could he have an experience like this? After being stabbed for a while, the doppelgänger collapsed. The fact that its equipment hadn’t been destroyed despite being stabbed all over showed that it was wearing some pretty good gear, as befitting a guardian of a legend’s tomb. Unfortunately for it, that wasn’t enough to overcome the sheer power of a full set of +15 gear.

“Tsk, tsk. If you’re going to dress him up, at least give him some +15 gear, you so-called legends.”

He had almost died for real. If the doppelgänger’s stats, or even its level, had been higher than his, it wouldn’t have suffered the humiliation of being unable to pierce his low-level, heavily enhanced armor. The fallen doppelgänger soon vanished, and his vision went dark once more. And then...

‘My successor...’

A voice echoed in his mind.

* * *

“What the hell?” ‘Who is that?’ It couldn’t be the guild chat. No one in the guild had a grandfatherly voice like that. Besides, this wasn’t the right time for them to show up.

‘My successor who carries my will. Can you hear me?’

“Ah! The Legendary Enhancement Master?”

‘That is correct. You have done well to pass the trial.’

‘What trial? Is he talking about the doppelgänger?’

‘You must have many questions. But the time I have to speak is short. You have found this place through fate, met the qualifications, and passed the trial, so I shall give you a brief explanation.’

Simin remained silent at the echoing voice.

To be honest, he had no idea what this place was. He had vaguely hoped that since it was a tomb, and since the person buried here was a big shot on the continent, there might be some decent items buried with him. That was all. So, he decided to listen.

‘A hundred years ago, before my life came to an end, I made a proposal to the other four legends. I suggested we create a ruin and each bury one of our treasures as a gift for the day our successors would arrive. In a way, it was a game. The five of us coexisted, but we were also rivals. To test our skills against each other would have had far too great an impact.’

‘What a pointless bet,’ Simin thought. Still, he could relate. He’d learned in the army that when people are bored, they’ll do anything for entertainment.

‘When our successors would appear, who would find this place first, and who would pass the trial—a contest where nothing could be predicted. How thrilling is that? We each prepared one of our treasures and then passed on. I am overjoyed that my successor, the first to arrive, has upheld my honor.’

‘Yeah, yeah. If you’re done, how about you give me that treasure or whatever?’ Simin thought. He had zero interest in his master’s pride and began to get his hopes up on the treasure! In the end, that’s what it came down to. He passed the trial and saved the guy’s reputation, so now he would get his treasure. The treasure of someone who must have raked in money by the cartload. His heart pounded just thinking about it.

‘Now, I shall give you a choice. Five treasures. You may have one of your choosing.’

At the same time, the cavern lit up again, and a single key appeared before Simin. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Then, five chests came into view. ‘What am I supposed to do with this?’ He waited for further explanation, but the voice was gone. His gaze naturally shifted to the chests.

‘So, let me get this straight. This place is not only the tomb of the Legendary Enhancement Master but also a shared cemetery of those who had the five Legendary-grade jobs. And before they died, five unemployed legends with nothing better to do made a bet for the future?’

But Simin was the first to arrive, the first to pass their little test, and now he was receiving his reward.

‘What is this garbage?’ he thought. ‘What about my quest? Why isn’t it marked as complete?’

It was a complete mess. This wasn’t the reward he’d been expecting.

"Haah."

Why was every NPC he met a complete lunatic? Now even the dead ones were out of their minds. He was their successor, for crying out loud. If I were to carry on their legacy and make their names famous across the continent, shouldn’t they have left him something decent? Maybe not on the level of the Emperor’s private treasury, but still.

"Just my luck," he muttered.

What could he do? He had to take what he was given. With a sigh, he inspected the key.

[Master Key]

* Grade: Legendary

* Option 1: A single-use key for opening a master chest.

"Wow."

His third-ever Legendary item was a single-use key. He was so dumbfounded he couldn’t even sigh.

‘They must have had way too much time on their hands.’

A question sparked in his mind. Who were these five so-called legends? One was an enhancement master, but what about the other four? What kind of jobs did they have that they’d go along with such a ridiculous scheme? Birds of a feather flock together, but this was absurd. Were they really the five great heroes of the continent, or were they just five lunatics?

He took the key and approached one of the chests to examine it.

[Master Chest]

* Grade: Legendary

* Option 1: A chest that can be opened with a master key.

It gave him no useful information.

His bewilderment doubled. They told him to pick one of their five treasures but didn’t even let him see which belonged to whom.

"Wait a minute."

‘Does that mean I just have to rely on pure luck?’

The key hit the floor with a clatter. He snapped. All he had wanted was something, anything, that could help with enhancements. He didn’t need another job. Forgetting the treasure entirely, Simin started kicking the master chests.

"You goddamn bastards! Where are your graves? I’ll dig every single one of you up!"

With no one around to see, his true colors burst forth in a fit of madness that would have made any witness recoil.

"An SS-rank quest..."

‘It ends like this? Really?’

Shouldn’t he have gotten a thirty-level boost or at least 150 stat points? It felt so empty. He hated the part of his brain that kept trying to convince him it couldn’t be true, but he needed that delusion to feel better.

"No, that can’t be it. Usually, the simpler the reward, the higher the quality."

After a long moment of despair, Simin’s hope was suddenly rekindled. There was still one reward he hadn’t checked. What if he opened the chest and found something like the Ring of Blessing? That would be a complete reversal of fortune, a chance to reclaim what he’d lost.

Barely managing to rein in his fluctuating emotions, he picked up the key. The important thing now was which chest to choose. The Legendary Enhancement Master’s treasure would be best, but the odds were only twenty percent.

"Hmm."

What to do? As he pondered, his line of thinking shifted.

"Come to think of it..."

Time to put himself in their shoes. He tried to imagine the mindset of the five legendary jobholders who had made a bet using their yet-unborn successors. It wasn’t too difficult, as he suspected they were all not in their right minds. All he had to do was think about what he would have done.

‘If it were me... Wouldn’t I enjoy this?’

The great heroes from novels would prepare all sorts of things to pass on to their successors before they departed, but people who weren’t like that wouldn’t give much thought to what happened after they died. They might even be jealous of the person who inherited everything and lived happily ever after. They might even hope their successor got screwed over.

The thought sent a shiver down his spine. What was more surprising was that the story actually made more sense from this perspective. If that was the case...

‘These five chests are probably meant to drive you mad with envy.’

Each one would contain a treasure capable of commanding the continent. And the feeling of having to choose only one would be like having five winning lottery tickets in front of you but only being allowed to pick one. No, a lottery would be better; at least you could take the money and use it for something else. This was different. Whatever came out would be good, but the chance of getting the best-case scenario was only twenty percent. The disappointment born from expectation would be immense.

"What a bunch of psychos."

Though it was just a guess, Simin was convinced, and he trembled with rage. At the same time, he made a vow.

"You’re all dead."

Anyone who came here would have felt the same way. If a meal for five was set out, but you were told you could only eat one serving, anyone would be furious. So, he decided to enact some justice.

"Telling me to eat just one portion? Fine."

Instead of choosing a chest, he summoned his hammer and anvil. Instead of his shabby hammer, a Legendary one appeared.

"I’ll use your own hammer to smash your twisted little game to pieces."

A vicious smile spread across his lips as he brought the hammer down on the single-use key.

* * *