Cyan and Nishi were visiting the equipment area for the first time. They had only passed by before and had never actually entered, mainly because they had no money…
No, because they had no Survival Points. Coming here would have been pointless anyway. Besides, the equipment sold in the equipment area was all basic gear. It was better to buy equipment directly from other survivors.
Entering the reinforcement room, they could see the reinforcement furnace located in the center of the room.
The reinforcement furnace looked like a massive, precise device. Its exterior had many exhaust ports of unknown purpose, from which mist occasionally sprayed out.
"So this is the reinforcement furnace used to enhance equipment!"
Nishi walked around the reinforcement furnace and lightly touched its surface with her finger.
"It's hot!"
With a hiss, Nishi cried out in pain and put her finger in her mouth.
"Are you an idiot?"
Cyan could feel a wave of heat blowing toward her even from a distance. It felt like she was inside the volcano where Bowser's castle was located — minus the sulfur smell.
"I was just curious…"
Nishi walked over to Cyan's side while sucking on her finger, looking at her with a wronged expression.
"Let's try enhancing some equipment."
Cyan glanced at Nishi and stepped forward, removing Kubaji's Mercury Earring from her right ear.
[Accessories cannot be enhanced.]
Cannot be enhanced?
Cyan hadn't expected the reinforcement furnace to be unable to enhance accessories. She put the earring back on and thought for a moment before removing the Super Crown.
[Survivor #11766, do you wish to spend 2,000 Survival Points to enhance the Super Crown?]
[Note: Enhancement Levels 1–3 have a 100% success rate. Enhancement Levels 4–7 have a chance of dropping 1 level upon failure, with a small chance of dropping to 0. Enhancement Levels 8–10 will damage the equipment upon failure.]
Cyan chose to enhance. The reinforcement furnace transformed. A pair of mechanical arms extended from within, picked up the Super Crown, and returned inside. Large amounts of steam sprayed out from the furnace, and a glow could vaguely be seen bursting forth from within. It was as if the Super Crown was undergoing some kind of evolution.
Suddenly, the reinforcement furnace stopped spraying steam. It opened, and the mechanical arms extended outward holding the Super Crown.
The Super Crown was now at Enhancement Level 1. The Spirit cost of the skill that created a Super Crown clone had decreased by 5 points, and the invincibility duration of the special effect Crouch Guard had increased by 0.3 seconds.
Cyan continued enhancing, bringing the Super Crown all the way to Enhancement Level 4.
[Super Crown]
[Type: Special Head Equipment]
[Enhancement Level: 4]
[Stats: All Attributes +3, Charm +3.]
[Skill: Super Crown Transformation! — Consumes 80 Spirit to create a clone of the Super Crown. Any creature wearing the Super Crown clone will transform into a young girl/loli/young woman/mature woman depending on their body type. Removing it restores them to normal. Maximum of one crown clone can be created.]
[Special ①: Any creature wearing the Super Crown will transform into a young girl/loli/young woman/mature woman depending on their body type. Removing it restores them to normal.]
[Special ②: When crouching and covering the head, grants 3.2 seconds of invincibility. Cooldown: 1 hour.]
[Equip Requirement: None.]
[Remark: Bowsette and numerous magicians poured their hearts and souls into researching this for a long time to create the ultimate weapon against the Mario Brothers! Extremely effective against male creatures!]
[Note: This equipment can be set to hidden or visible.]
When going from +3 to +4, the Survival Points cost increased to 3,000. In other words, enhancing the Super Crown to Enhancement Level 4 had cost a total of 9,000 Survival Points.
The results were quite good for the cost. When the Super Crown reached Enhancement Level 4, the All Attributes bonus increased from +2 to +3, and the invincibility duration from Crouch Guard reached 3.2 seconds.
Nishi looked at the stats of the Enhancement Level 4 Super Crown, then glanced at her own equipment. The only thing worth enhancing was Musk's Short Blade.
Enhancing Musk's Short Blade once cost 1,000 Survival Points.
Enhancing from Level 1 to 3 cost 3,000 Survival Points. Enhancing to Level 4 cost another 2,000 Survival Points.
[Musk's Short Blade (Right)]
[Type: Story Character Weapon]
[Enhancement Level: 4]
[Stats: Attack Power 39~57, Strength +3, Agility +3, Attack Speed increased by 20%.]
[Special: When attacking an enemy, there is a 15% chance to spray Melting Gas, dealing 10 damage per second to the enemy for 10 seconds. Maximum of 5 stacks.]
[Set Bonus: When both Musk's Short Blade (Left) and Musk's Short Blade (Right) are equipped, the set bonus is activated.]
[Equip Requirement: Agility 15. Note: Once equipped, this item is soul-bound to the wearer and cannot be traded. If the wearer dies, this item disappears!]
[Remark: You scum will never leave Earth alive!]
After each of them enhanced one piece of equipment, Cyan and Nishi still had 11,500 Survival Points remaining.
Cyan checked how many Survival Points they had left and suggested, "Want to keep enhancing?"
"Isn't that a bad idea…"
Nishi was reluctant to spend the Survival Points they had worked so hard to obtain on enhancing equipment. What if it failed? Wouldn't that be a complete waste?
"Mm."
Cyan felt that Nishi had a point. Survival Points didn't grow on trees. They couldn't be wasted on enhancements.
The two left the reinforcement room and headed to the training ground to test their skills.
Training Ground
Nishi continuously activated Chain Rapid Thrust at the target dummy. Her right hand holding the short blade turned into a white blur, rapidly striking the dummy multiple times. She looked at the damage numbers and shook her head, then played with the short blade in her hand while looking at Cyan, curious about what creature she had summoned.
"What is that?"
Nishi stared at the creature wriggling on the ground. It had two round eyes and a large, wide-open mouth. It looked like an oversized water droplet.
"A Slime that cost 10 Spirit upper limit. I think I can command it." As Cyan spoke, she ordered the Slime to move toward Nishi.
The water-droplet-shaped Slime hopped toward Nishi. As it bounced, its mouth opened and closed, and combined with those round eyes, it gave off a particularly punchable feeling — as if it was silently mocking, "Come hit me, you turtle's grandson~!"
Nishi couldn't hold back and kicked the Slime flying.
Plop! It landed on the ground, flattened like a pancake. Since it was Cyan's summon, Nishi's kick hadn't dealt any damage to it.
"Uh… Master, sorry. I couldn't hold back. This thing has such a punchable face, I really couldn't resist!" Nishi looked at the Slime that was wriggling back to its original shape and hopping toward her again. She rushed over and started punching and kicking it.
Hmm…
Cyan watched Nishi furiously beating the Slime and stared at the Slime's panel, lost in thought.
[Summoned Creature: Slime]
[Strength: 2 | Agility: 3 | Constitution: 4 | Perception: 4]
[Taunt (Passive): The Slime has a naturally punchable face and has a certain chance to taunt the target into attacking it.]
[Rapid Self-Healing (Passive): After taking damage, the Slime recovers 5 HP per second.]
[Remark: A low-intelligence magical creature that acts on instinct, commonly known as a "newbie monster." In many novels and games, it is the experience baby that protagonists encounter right after leaving the beginner village. To people with unique tastes, Slimes are considered a delicious ingredient.]
From the stats alone, it was clear this was a small meat shield with 40 HP and a built-in taunt. If it had a bit more HP, it would be better. With so little health, any experienced survivor could slap it to death. If Cyan and Nishi weren't in a master-servant relationship and couldn't harm each other, this taunting Slime would have already been torn to pieces.
Cyan dispelled the summon. With a pop, the Slime turned into smoke and disappeared.
After the summon was dispelled, her Spirit upper limit recovered, but her actual Spirit did not recover immediately. It would take time to restore naturally.
"Eh? What just happened to me? Why did I suddenly want to beat that Slime so badly?"
Once the Slime disappeared, the taunt effect on Nishi faded. The irritation in her heart vanished, and she scratched her head in confusion, not understanding why she had gone crazy and beaten a soft, squishy Slime.
[The Slime's passive taunt made you attack it. You were taunted.]
Cyan explained what had happened while watching Nishi return to normal. She hadn't expected the Slime's taunt chance to be so high. Or maybe Nishi's luck was just that bad.
How annoying… Skills that rely on luck are really annoying…
A trace of irritation flashed in Cyan's eyes. She was already fed up with luck-based skills, yet the more she hated them, the more of them kept appearing.
"So that's what happened!"
Nishi suddenly understood and clapped her hands. She ran over to Cyan excitedly and said, "Master, try again! See if you can summon something else!"
"Mm, okay."
Cyan nodded slightly. After the skill cooldown ended, she consumed 20 Spirit upper limit and activated Random Summon.
A mysterious and profound summoning circle appeared on the ground. A bat flew out from within. It looked around groggily, as if it had just woken up. When it saw Cyan, it flapped its small wings and landed on her shoulder, affectionately rubbing its head against her.
[Summoned Creature: Vampire Bat]
[Strength: 3 | Agility: 10 | Constitution: 3 | Intelligence: 3 | Spirit: 4 | Perception: 10]
[Dark Perception (Passive): Its extremely developed hearing gives the Vampire Bat powerful perception and evasion abilities.]
[Bloodsuck (Passive): When attacking, the Vampire Bat drains the enemy's blood to heal itself.]
[Remark: Vampire Bats that wander inside Dracula's castle are reborn whenever Dracula rebuilds it. However, the accursed Belmont family always comes to destroy their home.]
The Belmont family?
The Saint Flame I use comes from the Belmont family… That family seems to have been professional demolition experts for generations. That guy named Dracula is pretty unlucky…
Though, I guess they do pay demolition fees, right?
Cyan looked at the Vampire Bat's panel and thought about the remark on the Saint Flame skill book.