I Became a 6★ Gacha Character

390 - Nobles of the Tower 5

TL/Editor: raei

Status: 5/Week Mon-fri

Illustrations: Posted in discord.

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To put it bluntly, Heroes Chronicle was a virtual reality game that didn't give players complete freedom.

The basic premise was too clearly defined: team up with companions to climb the tower, establish safe zones, and defeat the Demon King's army to weaken his evil power.

Whether you climbed the tower or not, whether you left the city to roleplay as a slave or pretended to be a noble genius relying solely on inventory magic, no matter how wild your gameplay got, the main and side quests ultimately revolved around conquering the tower floor by floor.

Yes, "floor by floor."

[Equipment enhanced by the Stone Dwarves' special technique]

[But those guys, they seemed to be acting a bit strange...]

...

......

.........

......

...

[The safe zone in the plains is like a paradise of golden grasslands]

[But why did the safe zone summon someone from outside the tower?]

[We should investigate this safe zone that can summon people]

"Oh shit, another complication? But if we need to bring Ogre mana stones to get special enhancement stones, that doesn't add up. ...Must be because of the Season 2 patch!"

This was precisely the area Han Se-ah was least confident in.

Even if she hoarded mana stones in her inventory like a squirrel's winter food cache, Han Se-ah didn't spend as much gold as one might expect. Part of it was because our party was so strong that we made good money, and part of it was because she didn't waste gold on unnecessary things.

Other players would have to rent lodging, pay for food, and repair equipment for long-term hunting, so BB Games set mana stone prices quite high. But since we ignored the prerequisite quests and went straight for the boss's head, we had gold to spare.

That leftover gold went into the Lucky One's pocket, and in return we got special enhancement stones. As soon as we got our hands on them, several quest logs whizzed by, not just one—

"No! Can't a person just kill a boss without enhancing? Don't you know about broken straight swords? Ever heard of the 'no enhance, no talisman samurai' spirit?"

-The useless pack mule of the hero party isn't even checking quests while teacher progresses the game lol it's the end times

-Are you completing floor 40 quests on floor 50 now? lololololololol

-I knew this would happen when an RPG player skipped the enhancement content lmaooo

-Bomb-crazy bitch... Didn't even enhance... But still killed the boss... Though teacher was the one who actually killed it

-They say all roads lead to Rome, but this one went all the way down to Busan. How'd you manage that?

"Hanna's just standing there holding the enhancement stone... Is it because it's a special enhancement stone?"

"The Stone Dwarves said even they have trouble handling it, so it must be difficult for Hanna too. After all, she's not a mage who specializes in magical tools."

What good would it do to deny reality and yell at the viewers in the face of the quest logs flooding in like a tidal wave? I'd only be mocked for doing the gold grinding I should've done earlier.

Since only one day had passed in our two-day rest period, Manaashi and McDonagh hadn't returned yet. Lukius, who received the bag of gold coins, grinned and dashed back into the underground city's gambling den.

It seemed the nobles who took refuge in the underground city were setting up all sorts of entertainment out of boredom. Looks like he won the special enhancement stone in gambling with the commission money, which some rich noble had bought as part of a collection.

Winning a special enhancement stone with the commission money, then using the profits to place even bigger bets... I guess titles don't lie. At this rate, it might be profitable to offer him a lifetime contract.

"Haah... I guess we still have to do this? It seems players can't enhance directly with special enhancement stones. We decided to rest for the day anyway, so let's go down to the underground city and ask for enhancement."

As I pondered while watching Lukius disappear into the distance with excited steps, I heard Han Se-ah muttering once again.

The first part of her words was directed at the viewers, but the latter part was meant for us. No matter how noisy the viewers' chat got, she couldn't ignore the expectant gazes of the three beauties surrounding her.

Katie-Grace-Irene, or the "Loli-Elf-MILF" triad, all stood up abruptly when Han Se-ah grabbed the enhancement stone and jumped to her feet. It was quite a sight to behold. Though Han Se-ah's contents might be regrettable, her looks were pretty enough to rival even NPCs.

"Are we going down to the underground city today?"

"That's right. It seems I can't handle this myself. More precisely, it wouldn't be efficient."

"Efficiency?"

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Raei Translations

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Regular enhancement stones enhanced equipment. In other words, they improved the equipment's inherent abilities. They increased physical destructive power, durability, and shock absorption by making the item harder, tougher, and more elastic.

From what my helmet rack understood, it was closer to alchemy than magic, specifically chemistry. Just like steel is more useful than common iron, and alloys are more useful than steel, it was about improving the quality of the material.

But special enhancement stones were a bit different. True to their "special" name, they added magical effects in proper fantasy style. Like a wooden bow suddenly gaining a fire attribute, or an ice attribute creating ice crystals that don't give the owner frostbite... That sort of thing.

"Hmm, let's use this to enhance Katie's sword."

"R-really? Is it okay to decide just like that?!"

Katie jumped in place at Han Se-ah's words. Her eyes widened like a child who received a game console instead of a storybook for Christmas.

Though she kept saying it was fine, that we should discuss it first, etc., she couldn't hide her grinning lips. Because of this, she didn't even notice Grace and Irene smiling at her from either side with motherly affection.

But Han Se-ah's decision was understandable.

[Special Enhancement Stone - Winter Fragment]

[A crystal of magic that even the pressure of the underworld, which melts even rocks, could not melt]

We didn't know yet if there were special enhancement stones other than attribute enhancements, but the first enhancement stone that came into our hands was an ice attribute stone.

"Don't be so modest. The magic contained inside is ice attribute, that's why."

"Oh, really? Well, in that case... Hehe!"

While regular enhancement stones looked like metal, crystal, or gems, special enhancement stones gleamed as if advertising their special magical properties.

The analogy is a bit cheap, but... it was like adding LED flair when customizing a computer. With a soft light emanating from inside the sky-blue crystal, it was like looking at a custom-built PC bought with money saved during military service.

Anyway, at this point I could see why nobles would buy something so expensive that they wouldn't even use. Even with mana stones, there was a culture of using them for show because of their enormous size, despite being less attractive than cut gems.

So an enhancement stone much larger than ordinary gems, with light emanating from inside due to magical effects? To nobles, these weren't enhancement stones but cutting-edge fashion accessories that would set trends.

"By the way, how do we find a Stone Dwarf who knows how to handle this enhancement stone?"

"Even if we find one, we can't enhance right away if they're not on the 50th floor, right? It would take over a day to run to the city on the 49th floor."

"...Oh, right?"

"W-what?!"

But there was a minor yet crucial problem: we didn't know any blacksmiths. We knew some Stone Dwarves, sure, but no blacksmiths to speak of.

Sure, we progressed through scenarios with Stone Dwarves like Old Bobo and Granny Shasha, and used plenty of Stone Dwarf shops while staying in the underground city... but we naturally wouldn't know much about master blacksmiths skilled in handling special enhancement stones.

For starters, the named NPC Old Bobo seemed more like an engineering expert specializing in vacuum stones, while Granny Shasha was closer to a civil engineering expert who planned and built the city.

Good weapons came from the fingertips of legendary blacksmiths. Katie, nicknamed "Loli" for her romantic notions about weapons and knights, trembled like an otaku hearing that collaboration merchandise was about to sell out. But perhaps Lukius's luck had rubbed off on her as well.

"Enhancement stone? One with mana in it? Hmm... Go see Old Didi. He's been grumbling about having no work lately."

"Ah, I see. Thank you, brother."

With a single question thrown out while buying groceries in the market of the underground city on the 50th floor, our dilemma was immediately resolved. We heard there was a master craftsman whose work had dried up because the nobles who bought special enhancement stones weren't actually getting enhancements done.

Ah, come to think of it, this must be a required quest.

There's no way an NPC to progress the main scenario would be absent or too difficult to find.