Ch.228228. [+1] Corrupted Ring

The Corrupted Ring is, in my view, the core item of the Rift Dimension.

It’s a crucial item that purifies the chaotic energy of the Rift Dimension as it grows, absorbs that energy, and helps balance the increased difficulty.

So completing Main Quest 2 every time by any means necessary to grow the Corrupted Ring is a task essential for survival, beyond simply becoming stronger.

That’s why I hesitated to put the Corrupted Ring in the purification cauldron.

I thought that enhancing its options or stats through purification now would be like borrowing from the future.

If I could purify it now, then proceed with Main Quest 2, absorb more chaotic energy, continue growing it, and purify it again, it would obviously be more beneficial to purify and grow the item incrementally.

But since there was no explanation of how this works, I couldn’t take the gamble.

For any ordinary item, I might have just accepted the potential loss and tried it, but not with the Corrupted Ring.

This is literally my lifeline.

If I made a mistake and lost options, I’d have to make up for it elsewhere, and losing an SSS+ growth item could instantly reverse all the advantages I’ve painstakingly accumulated so far.

But my reason for wanting to use purification enhancement on the Corrupted Ring now was simple.

“Purification enhancement can be done anytime anyway.”

While item purification might only be possible once or twice, enhancement doesn’t increase item performance proportionally to current options—it either adds options or increases performance by a percentage.

This means that even if the Corrupted Ring’s options increase later, or its grade and stats improve, I wouldn’t be at a disadvantage for having enhanced it at a lower grade.

And typically, purification options don’t just increase numbers but add options related to purification.

“If it works, it’ll be amazing.”

The only issue was the 70% success rate.

Normally, I’d think that’s pretty high and go for it immediately.

But being limited to just one attempt made it a terrifying probability.

A high chance of success, but also a fairly high chance of failure—essentially close to fifty-fifty.

But I’d already committed and made up my mind.

If it succeeds, it might help me navigate this tight situation with a bit more breathing room.

Clang!

Kukum’s hammer struck the Corrupted Ring, and a bright light burst forth from the purification stone.

[Corrupted Ring +1 Purification Enhancement Success!]

“Whew… holy shit.”

My heart was pounding.

Honestly, even if it had failed, I could have stayed in the Steam Forest for 3-4 days to gather enough purification stones for another 1-2 attempts, so I wasn’t literally betting my life on it. Still, the difference in relief between succeeding on the first try versus failing is indescribable.

Once you succeed once, the next attempt feels less stressful because you’ve already had one success. But if I had failed now, spent 3-4 days gathering materials in the Steam Forest, and then failed again… thinking about needing to succeed just to break even would have made my hands tremble uncontrollably.

“Congratulations.”

“Thanks, Kukum. You really gave it your all.”

“…I always give it my all.”

“No, if it fails, that means you didn’t give it your all.”

I know it’s not Kukum’s fault, but if it fails, the arrow of resentment inevitably points at Kukum. Does getting angry change anything?

In Farming World, there were huge debates about this. There were even serious discussions about why one shouldn’t get angry at enhancement NPCs.

Is this really something worth debating? It’s questionable.

Common sense would say that getting angry is abnormal, almost sociopathic behavior.

Enhancement NPCs just perform enhancements according to programmed algorithms.

The probability is predetermined by the system, and whether the NPC does a handstand or prays while enhancing, what’s meant to succeed will succeed, and what’s meant to fail will fail.

So why get angry at the enhancement NPC?

When asked, those who believe it’s okay to get angry say:

“Then who am I supposed to vent my frustration to?”

It’s because it’s a game.

Because NPCs aren’t real people, we can have these fifty-fifty debates. In real life, we’d be discussing whether such behavior warrants commitment to a mental institution.

Anyway, this is the Rift Dimension, not Farming World, so I can’t get angry at Kukum for failing.

Even if I did, it would probably just lower Kukum’s trust level—would the ancient dwarf Kukum even blink an eye?

So I’ve decided that if I get an SSS+ lifestyle skill selection, I should learn an enhancement skill myself.

Although having Kukum with his SS+ skill is reassuring, in the Rift Dimension where SSS+ skills exist, Kukum’s abilities can’t be considered ultimate.

In Kukum’s dwarf dimension, he might have godlike abilities—equivalent to a 9th circle archmage who reached and vanished into the 10th circle—but in the top-tier Rift Dimension, where 12th and 13th circles exist, his skills are relatively limited.

I’ve committed to feeding SSS+ lifestyle skills to Kim Sujeong or Lee Jihyun, but I can’t give an SSS+ skill to Kukum, who is an NPC and not even from Earth.

Besides, I’m quite interested in enhancement myself.

Especially with enhancement, I can’t help but suspect and get angry when someone else fails, thinking they might not have tried their best.

If I enhance it myself and fail, I can just blame my bad luck and the Rift Dimension, and that’s the end of it.

Anyway, this was a low-level enhancement, and there was no other option, and most importantly, the enhancement succeeded.

“Nice!!”

I carefully picked up the Corrupted Ring.

[+1 Corrupted Ring]

– Grade: SS-

– Corruption Level: +1

– Purification Level: +1

– Number of Fragments: 1

– A ring made of ‘Chaos Stone,’ formed by condensed chaotic energy. It becomes corrupted and stronger as it absorbs chaotic energy. Purified energy has been absorbed between the chaotic energies.

– Grade and effects increase each time ‘Main Quest 2’ is cleared.

– Only those qualified to handle chaotic energy can wear it.

– All stats +1 grade

– All elemental damage +50%. All elemental damage reduction +25%

– All resources (Mana/Divine/Spirit) +50%

– (Fragment) Legendary grade or higher appearance rate +1%p / Mythic grade or higher appearance rate +0.5%p

– (Purification) Debuffs from chaotic energy reduced by 50%

“Wow… damn… as expected.”

My instinct to choose the Corrupted Ring was right.

Just one option was added, but it was exactly what I needed most right now.

“This is it.”

I couldn’t help but smile with happiness.

I didn’t specifically predict this option would appear.

I just thought that with something like the Corrupted Ring, even a purified option would likely provide some beneficial effect related to chaotic energy.

Of course, that was just a rough guess, so I can only say “I told you so” in retrospect.

But getting such an excellent option definitely made me beam with joy.

“I was running low on divine power anyway, so this is perfect.”

The dense chaotic energy of the level 5 biome wasn’t something I could completely block with my current divine power.

It was uncomfortable and dangerous, making it a priority issue to solve, but since I wasn’t completely exposed to it, I had put it on the back burner for now.

I was considering enhancing the Holy Ring or using purification enhancement to increase my divine power.

But now that the Corrupted Ring’s purification enhancement cuts chaotic energy debuffs in half, I could breathe a little easier.

Of course, I wasn’t planning to completely postpone it just because I got some relief.

Rather, now that I had an opportunity to completely solve the dense chaotic energy debuff, it might be better not to miss this chance and resolve it entirely.

“A 50% reduction makes it manageable.”

I could probably use divine power to adequately block the reduced debuff effect now, and while I might not be able to completely eliminate it 24/7 like with level 2 dense chaotic energy, I could at least be free from debuffs during critical combat moments.

But that’s not enough.

In the battle with the Golden Bird, I need to be able to use divine power for additional damage if possible.

Even though the purification enhancement was successful, it seemed I would need to farm additional purification stones for 2-3 more days.

“Let’s go for +2 in one try and finish this cleanly.”