The Greatest Warrior of All Time Returns-Chapter 404

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Chapter 404

The Hall of Enhancement was far more dopamine-inducing than I’d expected.

[+7 Enhanced Iron Sword]

With trembling hands, I stared at the iron sword and picked up the hammer.

“Let’s go for +8!!”

“I don’t know what that means, but let’s go!!”

Piiik!

Beside me, Grivy and Sur—who were watching with shining eyes—cheered bravely in response.

Serqet, as if none of this concerned it, was taking a nap in its new nest.

Knowing that weapons starting from high enhancement levels begin to glow faintly, I shouted encouragement at the ordinary iron sword and brought the hammer down.

And then—

Crunch!!

The enhancement failed spectacularly, and a wave of depression washed over me.

I closed my eyes without a word.

“…Fine. I’ll think of it as getting a protection agent.”

Enhancing raw without any polishing agent that boosts success rates, getting this far was already insanely lucky.

Sure, unlike the crazy games I knew in my previous life—where going from +1 to +2 had absurd success rates like 20% or even 10%—this world wasn’t that bad.

Still, when it came to real, physical items, even a 30% success rate was something you couldn’t casually mess with.

“I wanna try too!”

Grivy grabbed the hammer I’d set down and started smashing the broken sword.

But it was already shattered, and without divine aura, there was no way she could really do anything.

Still, perhaps because she was an earth spirit, the metal rippled like liquid.

Under her hammering, it clumped together into a lump of metal.

She kneaded it like clay, formed a crude sword shape that barely qualified as one, and proudly held it out to me.

“Dad! One more time!!”

If I did that, I wouldn’t get a protection agent.

But… fine.

I had divine aura to spare.

Of course, even if enhanced properly, something like this would be hard to use anyway.

When using enhancement abilities in the Hall of Enhancement, I had secured two support materials:

Polishing agents and protection agents.

A protection agent prevents destruction or mutation on failure, but wipes all enhancement levels.

A polishing agent increases the success rate.

Naturally, fragments from high-quality or highly enhanced items produced better support materials, so experimenting had its value.

My real goal wasn’t enhancing iron swords like this, but enhancing the Book Written by Fate.

I had at least confirmed that books could be enhanced—but failure was unacceptable.

That meant I needed a large supply of both protection and polishing agents.

More importantly, it wasn’t just about quality craftsmanship.

Items with history—those that had been used for a long time—produced better results.

Honestly, a part of me wanted to use my ghost sword as enhancement material.

I didn’t really grow attached to weapons anyway; I just used them until they broke.

“Should I start a business or something…?”

Just as that thought crossed my mind, a guest arrived at Cascadia.

“Master Leon. A visitor has arrived.”

“A visitor?”

“Yes. Sword Saint Osberg Mielephon…”

The old man?

I stood up to greet him.

The Sword Saint smiled warmly when he saw me.

“Ho ho. Looks like you’ve been doing well.”

“And you’ve been safe as well, sir?”

“I’ve had no problems. Though lately, strange things keep being discovered at former cultist bases. The Stars are all busy these days.”

Good thing I refused the title of Star.

By now, I could guess why he was here.

“Anything unusual lately?”

“Things have been quiet.”

“That’s good. But… have you heard from Isna? She’s been hard to reach lately…”

I felt a slight pang of guilt.

At the moment, Isna was working with Rebecca and Meryl, chasing down Garlan.

From what little news I’d heard, they’d already cut off most of his limbs—figuratively speaking—so it was basically the final stage.

“She should be back soon. She found something quite interesting, apparently.”

“I just hope she doesn’t do anything too dangerous… Regardless of strength, that girl always makes me uneasy…”

From the Sword Saint’s perspective, Isna probably looked like a reckless troublemaker who poked into everything despite not being overwhelmingly strong.

“The reason I came is simple. That elixir I drank before—could I get some more?”

“I actually prepared some for you already.”

Hair-loss medicine could be mass-produced, but combat elixirs were another story.

Enchanting buffs through sympathetic resonance was a hassle.

That’s why I’d adopted a premium strategy—selling only to a select few.

At the moment, only Stars could buy them.

In that sense, Osberg was effectively my first customer.

I had a maid bring over a prepared box and handed it to him.

“I’ve written the effects and dosage inside. Please be sure to read it before use.”

“You have my thanks. Though… relying on medicine as a swordsman isn’t ideal…”

“Think of it like a priest casting buff spells. The elixir itself has almost no side effects.”

“I see.”

He looked ready to leave, but my eyes drifted to the sword at his waist.

“Sir.”

“Yes?”

“That sword… is it a good one?”

“Why do you ask? It’s quite fine, yes.”

“…Would you like to try enhancing it?”

Respecting martial purity was one thing—but ignoring gear was just foolish.

Suppressing a sly smile, I began my sales pitch.

“It’s nothing fancy. Just a way to make the blade sharper and sturdier through means other than basic polishing.”

For a moment, I wondered whether spirit swords could be enhanced too—but the instant that thought surfaced, I felt Falling Blossom and Utopia, both bound to me by contract, shudder violently, so I dropped it.

* * *

Once in the workshop, Osberg placed his sword on the table.

“How much is this worth?”

“In value? Several hundred million.”

“Then shall we try once?”

I gently drew the blade from its scabbard.

As expected of a sword worth that much, the material was sturdy and the edge exquisite.

Not merely well-sharpened—it was practically treasure-class.

I studied it quietly and lifted the hammer.

“Then I’ll begin.”

I manifested divine aura and brought the hammer down immediately.

“What?! What are you doing?!”

Smashing a perfectly good sword without even heating it startled Osberg, but I ignored him, spreading the gathered aura by hammering it outward.

Paaang!!

Golden light burst forth and seeped into the sword.

[+1 Enhanced Red Hawk]

[Sharpness Enhanced]

[Durability Enhanced]

Red Hawk—so that must be its name.

“+1 succeeded. Sharpness and durability improved, but with just one enhancement, the difference may be hard to feel.”

He picked up the sword and examined it.

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Despite the hammering, not only was it unharmed—it looked better.

“I don’t understand the details, but… it’s incredible. How many times can this be done?”

“A fair number. But from around +5 or +6 onward, there’s a chance of destruction.”

“Destruction…”

“But that’s when the performance increase becomes massive.” 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

“What’s the destruction probability?”

“It varies by weapon… What will you do?”

After a moment’s thought, he replied,

“So up to +5 should be safe, yes?”

“Yes. For now.”

“Then do it.”

As expected of a swordsman—greed for the blade was natural.

He handed the sword back, and I hammered without hesitation.

[+2]

[+3]

[+4]

The enhancements stacked rapidly, and by +5, the difference was visible even to the naked eye.

“I’ve never heard of enhancement like this…”

“How is it? Beyond this point, failure could destroy it.”

“Then what percentage?”

“…Hmm.”

After examining the Red Hawk, I estimated roughly.

“About a 5% chance. It’s a fine blade—it probably won’t break easily.”

He lifted the sword.

“May I test it?”

“Of course. The test field is over there.”

I led him to the internal testing range and set up self-repairing dummies.

Suppressing his power, he swung the sword purely to test its performance.

Then—

“Incredible. I can feel it just by swinging… it’s not even comparable to before.”

“What do you think?”

“Ho ho. I knew you were talented, but this is a first.”

“Beyond this point, failure could destroy it—”

“Let’s go.”

His eyes gleamed.

This old man… don’t tell me he’s addicted to enhancement.

I warned him repeatedly about destruction.

Even single-digit probabilities could be dangerous.

But if that’s what he wanted, I had no choice.

Besides, getting protection materials wouldn’t hurt.

I lifted the hammer and challenged +6.

Wooooong—Paaang!!!!!

Thankfully, +6 succeeded.

[+6 Red Hawk]

[Auto-repair for dulled edge added]

[Aura resonance increased]

These were clearly different-tier options.

Osberg’s eyes shone as he looked at the faintly glowing blade.

“Self-repair? On a non-magic sword?”

“Enhancement basically turns it into one.”

“They said the material couldn’t become a magic sword…”

He packed up the blade, clearly satisfied.

“Come again if you think of it.”

I was a little disappointed it didn’t break—but success wasn’t a problem either.

One day later, the Sword Saint returned.

“Leon, can this be enhanced further?”

“What? All of a sudden?”

“It’s absurdly strong now. Surely it can go further.”

After some thought, I nodded.

“Alright.”

Osberg truly had the heart of a beast.

+7. +8.

Two consecutive successes.

Then he even brought materials and demanded +9.

At this point, the success rate was extremely low.

Still, he boldly chose “all or nothing.”

PAAAAAANG!!!!!

[+9 Red Hawk]

A blade emitting a clearly perceptible glow was born.

“It actually worked.”

“HAHAHAHA! I love it!!”

At +9, this wasn’t just better—it was a fundamentally different weapon.

Sensing that instinctively, he clapped my shoulder in gratitude.

I’d honestly hoped it would break somewhere in the middle.

But I didn’t say that out loud.

“Further enhancement would require mithril. I don’t recommend it.”

“I’d love to try, but my instincts say stop. I’m itching to swing this thing.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

I smiled and saw him off.

Three days later—

He returned with a pile of mithril and several mysterious iron swords.

“Sir?”

“Let’s enhance more! The materials are here. And these are…”

“What are they?”

“Offerings.”

…Offerings?

Was he planning to force failure?

Absurd superstition from my past life—but apparently it existed here too.

Suppressing my disbelief, I confirmed multiple times that he was serious.

In the end, I tried.

“I’ll do my best.”

The result—

[+10 Red Hawk]

Once again, I was reminded that Sword Saint Osberg was absurdly lucky.

“Congratulations. Honestly, +10 is something I rarely see these days.”

“Ohhh… look at that radiance. This could be a family heirloom!”

“At this point, even if it breaks, it can self-repair by absorbing materials.”

From +10 onward, enhancement was practically evolution.

Naturally, I grew curious.

“Sir… why are you pushing enhancement this far?”

“Oh? Didn’t you know? Soon, I’ll be sparring with Spear Saint and Radiant Saint. I wanted to really feel the difference equipment makes.”

Ah.

Old men’s pride battles.

I nodded.

Three days after Osberg left in high spirits, news reached me.

Sword Saint Osberg had utterly crushed both the Spear Saint and the Radiant Saint.

“Master Leon. The Spear Saint is requesting an audience.”

“…Uh-oh.”

Did I just poison the ecosystem?

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