Chương 263

A flash of silver light illuminated the space next to the stone table. Elysia stepped out of the portal, her hand resting habitually on the hilt of her sword. Seeing no immediate threat, she relaxed and offered a crisp salute.

"My Liege," Elysia greeted.

"Elysia, let me teach you a couple of enhancement stones blueprints," Rudra said as he placed his hand on top of her head and activated the skill [Impart Knowledge] to share both the blueprints one by one. She flinched a little as Leige's hand touched the top of her head, but soon that became the least of her worries as she quickly processed the two pieces of knowledge regarding the manufacturing methods of Blessed Enhancement Stones.

"Share that with Elara as well when you get back to the Tower of Miracles" Rudra said.

"It's about time we started manufacturing our own blessed enhancement stones." Elysia recovered quickly, offering a sharp, highly motivated nod.

"Right away, My Liege. The Witches will begin the synthesis trials tonight." She bowed respectfully before turning and hurrying back into the portal, already calculating catalyst temperatures in her head.

"Okay. Then on to the upgrades," Rudra said, turning his attention back to the stone table. Rudra unequipped his core gear and placed his staff on the table and saw the description of the item again. [Extortion] [Rating: Legendary] [Durability: 1, 200/1, 200 Attack Power: 1, 300~2, 500] - Attack Speed +20% - Lightning Attribute Damage +500 on every hit. - There is a high probability of ignoring 20% of the target's defense. - A paralyzing effect will trigger on a critical hit.

- The skill 'Thunderfall' will be generated. [It is a staff designed by a legendary blacksmith who was forced to make it. The creator was so annoyed that he spitefully named the weapon 'Extortion'. It is absurdly heavy. The angry creator purposely made the conditions of use impossible for any normal human to meet.] [Conditions of Use: Level 400 or higher. More than 6, 000 Strength. More than 4, 000 Agility. Advanced Staff Mastery Level 10 or higher.] [Weight: 1, 500] [Thunderfall] [Active] [Channel the staff's raw electricity into a single, devastating overhead strike. - Deals 300% physical damage and 150% lightning magic damage. - Paralyzes the target for 1. 5 seconds. - Resource Consumption: 80 Staff Energy, 300 Mana. - Skill Cooldown: 5 minutes.] The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. He picked up a handful of ordinary Weapon Enhancement Stones.

He tapped them against the dark metal of the legendary staff. [You have used the weapon enhancement stone on the +0 Extortion.] [You have succeeded in enhancing it by +2.] [The +2 Extortion has been completed.] He repeated the motion quickly. [You have used the weapon enhancement stone on the +2 Extortion.] [You have succeeded in enhancing it by +3.] [The +5 Extortion has been completed.]"Easy part's done," Rudra noted. He switched tactics. He grabbed the pile of Blessed Weapon Enhancement Stones.

He tapped one against the staff. [You have used the blessed weapon enhancement stone on the +5 Extortion.] [You have succeeded in enhancing it by +1.] [The +6 Extortion has been completed.] The dark metal suddenly flared. A bright, steady blue aura ignited along the shaft of the weapon, casting a cool light across the courtyard. Gold, the timid berserker, let out a quiet gasp.

"It's glowing."

"Now the real fight starts," Current muttered, leaning in with genuine anticipation. Rudra tapped another Blessed Weapon Enhancement Stone. [You have used the blessed weapon enhancement stone on the +6 Extortion.] [You have failed to enhance the +6 Extortion. The enhancement level has fallen by 1 to the +5 Extortion.] The blue light died instantly. Gold winced, her shoulders hiking up to her ears. Tara let out a long, sympathetic hiss of breath. Rudra tapped another blessed stone. Success.

The blue light returned. He tapped another. Failure. The light died. The guild members watched in agonizing suspense. Every time the staff hit +6, a spark of hope rippled through the group. Current would lean forward, Spark would hold her breath. And almost immediately, the system would crush that hope. Rudra aggressively applied the blessed stones, trying to force the weapon through the brutal probability curve. But the upper tiers were absolutely ruthless. He burned through ten stones. Then twenty. Then forty.

He didn't hit +8 a single time. [You have used the blessed weapon enhancement stone on the +6 Extortion.] [You have failed to enhance the +6 Extortion. The enhancement level has fallen by 1 to the +5 Extortion.] Rudra stopped. The blue light was gone again. He had just burned through all 50 or so of his Blessed Weapon Enhancement Stones. That was a small fortune worth around 1 million dollars, reduced to dust, and he had literally made zero progress. His relaxed, unbothered demeanor cracked.

Rudra stopped chewing on his dried fruit. He gritted his teeth, his jaw visibly tightening. His hand hovered over the table, shaking just slightly from the sheer, burning frustration of the financial loss, before he forced his fingers to steady.

"Boss?" Gold asked quietly.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Rudra muttered, his voice tight. Forced to adapt, Rudra sighed heavily and switched entirely to the normal Weapon Enhancement Stones. He picked up the stones and started hammering away at the interface. [You have used the weapon enhancement stone on the +5 Extortion.] [You have failed to enhance the +5 Extortion. The enhancement level has fallen by 3 to the +2 Extortion.] Tara actually covered her eyes.

"Oh, that hurts to look at." Rudra gritted his teeth and aggressively reapplied them. He fought the brutal -3 penalty drops over and over. He burned through fifty Weapon Enhancement Stones just to get back to +6. He pushed to +7. He failed and dropped to +4. The courtyard was dead silent, save for the chiming of the system and the frustrated grinding of Rudra's teeth. He burned through one hundred stones. Then two hundred. The pile on the table was shrinking rapidly.

He was bleeding resources, taking massive gambles on the brutal probability curve. He was so frustrated and hyper-focused on the rhythmic tapping that he stopped reading the individual prompts. Tap. Fail. Tap. Success. Tap. Fail. The staff hit +8. The aura shifted to a vibrant sunset-orange. Without thinking, Rudra's hand mechanically picked up another normal Weapon Enhancement Stone and tapped it against the metal. [You have used the weapon enhancement stone on the +8 Extortion.] [You have succeeded in enhancing it by +2.] [The +10 Extortion has been completed.]