Ch.121[Chapter 121] Equipment Enhancement

“Customer number 91732! Customer number 91732! Window 17! Please come to window 17!”

Amid the hissing sound of melting metal, the noise of iron and hammers colliding, people haggling to get materials and equipment cheaper, and finally the sounds of people grabbing each other’s collars to ask how they’ve been…

Sir Dominic rose from his seat at the call of an employee whose voice had gone hoarse from shouting all day through the tremendous noise.

Unryu Hime, who had already taken a number earlier, had gone ahead for her equipment enhancement.

Sir Dominic headed to window 17 with Alice, who was rubbing her eyes sleepily from waiting.

“Welcome.”

A dwarf greeted them curtly from behind the counter.

Though of a different gender, the dwarf somehow had a similar atmosphere to the one they’d met at the equipment slot opening counter.

Sir Dominic couldn’t contain his curiosity and asked the female dwarf.

“What’s your relationship with the dwarf at the equipment slot opening counter?”

“How would you know to ask that?”

The female dwarf frowned at his question, then suddenly seemed to realize something and muttered quietly.

“Father must be working today. The old man is still so energetic. I told him to rest now that I’m working too.”

After grumbling as if relieved, the dwarf said to Sir Dominic.

“Anyway, you’re here for equipment enhancement, aren’t you? Why don’t you show me your slots right away?”

The female dwarf, seeming embarrassed, cleared her throat a couple of times and extended her hand to Sir Dominic.

When Sir Dominic offered his wrist, the dwarf read his slots and opened a small window next to the counter.

“The shield and flag I understand, but I can’t figure out what kind of equipment Alice is. Could you show me perhaps?”

“Well… hmm.”

Sir Dominic thought for a moment, then called to Alice who had started dozing off while leaning against his backpack.

“Alice!”

“Huh? Yes! Master! Did you call me?”

Alice jumped up and approached Sir Dominic, not even thinking to wipe the drool from the corner of her mouth.

“No, when I ask to see equipment, why call a person… wait, is this what I think it is?”

The dwarf looked at Sir Dominic.

When Sir Dominic nodded slightly, the dwarf sank into her chair and said quietly.

“My goodness. So they really do exist. Father was telling the truth. He wasn’t senile after all.”

The dwarf stared blankly at Sir Dominic and Alice for a moment.

But soon, as if remembering her job, she collected herself and began attending to Sir Dominic again.

“There’s no problem enhancing the shield and flag. But your… um… what should I call it? It seems wrong to call a living being a tool.”

“I am Master’s seedling!”

Alice said energetically, as if trying to wake herself up.

“Seedling. Seedling. Right. Fine. Your seedling cannot be enhanced.”

“Why not?”

Sir Dominic asked.

“Because while it’s equipment, it’s not equipment, if you know what I mean. I heard it used to be possible, but after some incidents, it was prohibited by law.”

The female dwarf, who had mentioned her father, stroked her chin covered with coarse down.

“So I can only help you with the shield and flag.”

The dwarf told Sir Dominic.

Hearing this, Alice asked the dwarf with a dejected expression.

“Does that mean I can’t get stronger?”

“That’s not the case.”

The dwarf stated firmly.

“In fact, while enhancement is impossible, humanoid equipment’s… charm lies in growth and assist.”

“Growth and assist?”

Sir Dominic and Alice listened attentively to the dwarf’s words.

“Yes. Growth and assist.”

The dwarf nodded in affirmation and began explaining to Sir Dominic and Alice.

“If you look at the equipment description, doesn’t it mention rewards based on growth?”

“Indeed.”

Sir Dominic looked at Alice’s entry in the equipment window.

[Alice (-): Little ladies should be hidden first when told to hide women and children. Is that outdated? Anyway, it fills you with chivalry! There are special rewards based on Alice’s growth.]

Just as the dwarf said, such a phrase was there.

“According to that phrase, performance varies depending on how much the young lady helps you. As she grows, your abilities grow too.”

“Hmm.”

Sir Dominic nodded.

He remembered that while Alice didn’t directly give Sir Dominic stats or skills, she had helped move the mount together.

“That’s why people who obtain humanoid equipment usually train them to either maximize their strengths or compensate for their weaknesses. This is what we call assist.”

Sir Dominic had a realization from the dwarf’s words.

Since Sir Dominic has only one eye, his field of vision is very narrow.

What if Alice could cover his blind spots and warn him?

It could become something intangible but more valuable than direct stats or skills.

In the end, the more he trains Alice, the more beneficial it is for him.

Though Sir Dominic didn’t realize it, all the training he had given Alice so far had ultimately been helpful to him.

Having understood what growth and assist meant, Sir Dominic nodded.

“Anyway, now that the explanation is done, shall we proceed with the enhancement?”

The dwarf casually asked Sir Dominic.

Sir Dominic remembered that he had originally come for enhancement and nodded.

“Then please wait. I’ll bring the enhancement chart.”

The dwarf briefly left her seat.

She opened the lid of a square stone box behind her, put a piece of paper in, and closed the lid.

Bright light leaked from the cracks of the stone box, and soon a piece of paper shot out from a gap on the side of the box.

The dwarf opened the lid again to retrieve the original paper, put it back in its place, and brought the new paper to Sir Dominic.

“This is the enhancement chart. It will show options based on the equipment you have.”

The dwarf muttered something about magic being evil but such convenient magic always being welcome, but Sir Dominic didn’t hear as he was completely focused on the paper.

[Worn Shield(T1) ▶ Supply Shield(T2): Finely Split Oak Wood (1732/10)]

[Worn Flag(T1) ▶ Assault Flag(T2): Powdered Arcane Crystal(1232/10)]

Sir Dominic roughly understood how enhancement worked from the explanations so far.

Therefore, what Sir Dominic focused on wasn’t the enhancement itself.

What caught his attention was the suspiciously high number of material items.

Sir Dominic couldn’t understand these enormous numbers.

He had no memory of collecting anything, and even if he had, he didn’t remember picking up these kinds of items.

“Excuse me.”

Unable to conclude where these items came from, Sir Dominic asked the dwarf.

“The materials seem unnecessarily abundant.”

“How many do you have?”

“In the thousands.”

“Ah, you haven’t collected much then. Haven’t progressed far in Story Mode, I see?”

Contrary to Sir Dominic’s thinking, the dwarf responded as if it was nothing special, even suggesting it was less than expected.

Resources in the thousands considered small? Sir Dominic looked at the dwarf with a confused expression.

Noticing Sir Dominic’s confusion, the dwarf said matter-of-factly.

“You’ll understand once you try enhancing.”

Sir Dominic decided to try enhancement as the dwarf suggested.

After signing the line at the bottom of the paper that read “Responsibility for what happens during enhancement follows the terms. Do you agree?”, Sir Dominic realized a button had suddenly appeared in front of the counter.

“Press that to start enhancement.”

A button labeled [Start Enhancement!].

Sir Dominic pressed the button as the dwarf instructed.

The button disappeared and the paper glowed brightly, then a new paper appeared with the message [Enhancement Successful!].

[Supply Shield(T2): At least it blocks arrows! Amazing. 6% increased chance of stunning when striking with the shield]

[Assault Flag(T2): What you should look at on the battlefield isn’t the enemy. It’s the flag running at the front. [Standard Bearer] effect increased by 75%.]

Clearly equipment much stronger than what existed before.

However, Sir Dominic wasn’t looking at those stats.

[Supply Shield(T2) ▶ Priest Shield(T3): Less Twisted Oak Wood(233/20), Finely Split Oak Wood (1722/100)]

[Assault Flag(T2) ▶ Command Flag(T3): Finely Split Arcane Crystal(317/20), Powdered Arcane Crystal(1222/100)]

What Sir Dominic was looking at was the amount of resources needed for the next enhancement.

Resources that suddenly required ten times as much.

Sir Dominic could immediately understand what the dwarf meant.

The amount of resources needed was more than expected.

Just to be sure, Sir Dominic pressed enhance once more and was now completely astonished.

[Priest Shield(T3) ▶ Knight Shield(T4): Intact Oak Wood(57/30), Less Twisted Oak Wood(213/200), Finely Split Oak Wood (1622/1000)]

[Command Flag(T3) ▶ Division Flag(T4): Cracked Arcane Crystall(44/30), Finely Split Arcane Crystal(297/200), Powdered Arcane Crystal(1122/1000)]

So that’s why. Sir Dominic nodded.

By the way, what is this “Crystall” material? Sir Dominic wondered and asked the dwarf.

“What material is Crystall?”

“Oh, that’s a typo. It’s been like that for twelve thousand years and they still haven’t fixed it.”

So that’s what it was. Sir Dominic was reminded anew that this world runs on a system.

“As if there are people who use flags,” the dwarf grumbled as Sir Dominic looked back at the paper.

Fortunately, Sir Dominic had enough resources left for one more enhancement.

Sir Dominic pressed the enhancement button.