Part 2. One in a Thousand (2)
“Don’t hold onto useless hope. Don’t let your heart flutter for no reason either.”
Ted bit his lip.
The first enhancement had succeeded.
But what good was that?
Even if a single weapon’s performance increased to 120%, it was of no help in the current situation.
‘Break quickly. So I can delete the character without any lingering attachment.’
Ted felt more at ease with that.
Fate had always tormented him.
It was time to stop the torture of false hope and let him go.
Thinking this, Ted attempted the enhancement.
Flash—!
But what was this?
He had succeeded in the second enhancement as well.
‘Ah… this is really annoying. Why are you getting my hopes up for nothing? Damn this life.’
Ted frowned and held out the +2 musket to the blacksmith again.
Why wasn’t the blacksmith enhancing quickly?
Why was he swinging the hammer for so long?
He wanted to accept his fate quickly.
Flash—!
Then, once again, a success effect appeared.
“Huh?”
“Amazing! Unique +3 enhancement!! Congratulations, Stranger!”
Ted looked at the weapon with a dumbfounded expression, then turned his eyes to the comments.
Countless comments floating in the air. The explosive reactions were enough to obscure the semi-transparent gray ghost icons that served as viewer icons.
[ Ted®Kiss — Aaaaaahhhhhh LOL 1/1000 d*mn ]
[ Ted®Dragon — Omg omg omg omg omg he’s crazy ]
[ I’m American. — what the FUCKK AWESOME :O oppa you so good!! ]
[ BJ)Kangho — Wow, that’s amazing, Ted-nim!! ]
The comment window was truly in an uproar.
‘Ha, my life is really shit.’
However, Ted’s expression wasn’t good.
No, to be exact, it was turning rotten.
Because with each successful enhancement, he himself was becoming more miserable.
‘I’m twenty-nine. I’ve been playing games for 20 years since the day I was born. But all this time I’ve only been given shit, and now that I’m trying to end it all, you dump all this luck on me at once?’
Could there be a god of fortune?
If such a bastard existed, Ted felt like slapping him across the face a few times and gouging out his eyes.
‘Where are you, you bastard? Who are you?’
Ted needed someone to curse and resent.
So he drew a four-leaf clover in his head.
And drew on eyes, a nose, and a mouth.
This bastard was now the God of Fortune.
Ted began mercilessly beating its face in his imagination. Then stomped on it hard with his feet.
‘Hey. Please stop. I’m finished anyway. There’s no reason for the likes of you to get involved.’
10%, three successes.
Numerically, 1/1000.
Come to think of it, there had been times like that before. Times when he had obtained an item with a 0.1% drop rate while hunting monsters.
Doesn’t something like that have to happen at least once in a lifetime?
‘It’s just that when I had no luck, it was so explosively absent.’
Ted thought of his situation again and found it absurd.
Why on earth had the monster he killed happened to be a pet of two of China’s largest organizations?
If it had been just one, this situation wouldn’t have come to pass.
Because Alibaba and CGTV were in fierce competition with each other. If one side deployed its main force to catch Ted, it could be ambushed by the other exploiting the gap.
But he had happened to kill the pets of both organizations at once.
So by a once-in-a-blue-moon chance, the two organizations had joined hands.
What would this probability be numerically?
‘You dog-like bastard. It’s no use pretending to be nice now. I’m warning you, don’t do this, seriously.’
Ted grabbed and shook the God of Fortune—that is, the four-leaf clover with eyes, nose, and mouth—by the collar again.
Flash—!
In the midst of that, light burst forth again.
Ted had this thought.
The God of Fortune, this trash, was making him miserable to drive him to suicide.
It was trying to make Cheon Gyeong-u delete his character, not Ted.
‘Stop. Please. Stop.’
With those thoughts, he blankly continued the enhancement.
Praying that it would break quickly, so that his life, which had been nothing but despair, wouldn’t be made utterly miserable on top of that.
Flash—!
But the enhancement succeeded again.
Flash—!
And again.
Flash—!
Again, once more it succeeded.
“….”
Before he knew it, a +7 musket rested in Ted’s hands.
“I’ve worked here for five years, but I’ve never seen anyone as lucky as you. Thanks to you, I’ve gained much enlightenment as well. Hoho, congratulations!”
The blacksmith said with a smile.
Ted glared at him.
He was not a free-will NPC, but a simple repetitive NPC.
He didn’t possess his own will or engage in creative activities. He was merely a character who lived each day going with the flow.
Therefore, there was a high possibility he would pass over this matter quietly.
Soon, Ted took his eyes off him and carefully examined his surroundings.
A +7 weapon.
If someone aimed for it, it was a weapon they would risk their character’s life to obtain.
Of course, since it was inside the village, PK wouldn’t be easy unless one had a criminal-type job.
Furthermore, the number of thieves across the entire continent who could steal items from him could be counted on one’s fingers.
But you never know.
‘None. Fortunately, there’s no one threatening.’
Ted looked around and even used the
‘It’s +7….’
Unique-grade weapons were usually worth several hundred million.
At around +7, it surpassed ten billion.
Seven enhancements of 20% each. The weapon’s simple performance became 358%.
Ted swallowed.
Gulp.
With this, he could exert nearly three and a half times his usual power. Of course, since it was simple attack power rather than overall stats, the actual figure would be lower than that.
Because not all stats including defense, HP, and mana became three and a half times.
‘Just three and a half times the attack power isn’t enough… no, it’s not just insufficient, it’s far too lacking.’
However, he decided to face reality.
Could he be free from Alibaba and CGTV’s grasp with this?
No. Impossible. It was actually out of the question.
Certainly, a +7 weapon was incredibly powerful and rare. By simple calculation, it had a probability of almost one in ten million.
However, there were more +7 weapons on the continent than one might think.
The reason was the
‘Those rich bastards all have +5 weapons….’
A top-grade magical orb that prevents a weapon from breaking even if Soul Engraving fails, up to +5.
It was expensive, but rich users were all over the world, so there were quite a few +7 or higher weapons.
If you somehow safely raised it to +5 and then relied on luck for the rest, it wasn’t impossible to reach around 1/100 odds.
So while the luck that had befallen him now was amazing, when compared to the vast continent in this game, it wasn’t that incredible.
Even Langwa, called one of the Three Sovereigns (three supreme beings) of Alibaba, was like that.
As far as Ted knew, none of his unique equipment was below +5.
In that situation, nothing would change just because he had obtained a single +7 weapon.
Then his thoughts became clear.
‘Continue the enhancement.’
Honestly, he was a bit shaken.
It would definitely be worth money if sold.
Ten billion! Truly an astronomical sum.
Even if Ted sold his house and car and combined all his personal assets, it wouldn’t reach ten billion.
But money didn’t matter at all.
‘If I’m giving up Ted and starting from the bottom now, what use is 10 billion… 10 billion.’
Ted had always been rational, but for now, he decided to follow his emotions.
From the early twenties, the most important time in life, until now at twenty-nine.
It was a character he had nurtured for 9 years as if his life depended on it.
There had been bone-grinding effort to become ranked in the top two digits among 10 million Korean users.
But now start over from level 1?
That sense of emptiness was something nothing could fill.
‘I have to keep enhancing.’
Somehow, he had made it this far.
But the next enhancement was also a 10% probability.
If ten Teds in ten dimensions did the same thing, only he among them had to succeed.
Fortunately, he still had money and minerals needed for Soul Engraving in abundance.
Since he had never tried Soul Engraving for ten years, the minerals he had gathered without selling had piled up and up.
‘Let’s turn off the stream.’
Balloons had been bursting here and there in the comment window since earlier.
They were signs of support from viewers celebrating Ted’s jackpot.
‘I’m sorry, viewers… from now on I’ll have to enhance alone….’
Before this heavenly opportunity, Ted lost his composure.
What if he succeeded? Then it would be troublesome. If something worth hundreds of billions or trillions was exposed to the entire world, it would be a problem.
If he failed, tough luck, but you never know.
Ted finished his judgment in an instant.
“Ending stream….”
Ted ended the broadcast.
In an instant, all viewer icons floating in the air disappeared.
‘Here I go.’
Ted handed the +7 musket to the blacksmith with trembling hands.