Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

Enhancement crystals have a single function in Rise Online: to improve item stats.

An item can be evolved with infinite enhancement crystals, and if the enhancement succeeds, it will add +10 to both Defense and Attack. However, with each enhancement stone used, the difficulty for the next enhancement crystal to succeed will be doubled.

Let's say an enhancement crystal has a 2/4 chance of succeeding, i.e. it has a 50% chance. On the second crystal that a player applies to an item, the chance of success will decrease to half that of the first crystal. In other words, 25%. Consequently the third enhancement crystal will only have a 12.5% chance of success. The fourth will have 6.25%. The fifth, 3.125%.

While the chance of the next success drops by half with each successful enhancement, it is most common to see weapons with only +4 Enhancement, at most.

Weapons with +5 upgrade are very rare, those with +6 upgrade as well, and +7 almost impossible for any player to obtain. However, Kaizen's goal was not any of these levels, but the most difficult of all: +8 upgrade.

Obviously, if he were to rely on luck for the ridiculous success percentage, which is approximately 0.390%, he would never get a weapon with such an enhancement level. However, he had a plan in mind. This plan was not he who made, but the legendary master smith Wen Chiu, and it was described in detail in the book that Wen Chiu gave as a gift to the Library of the Magi.

"If I remember correctly, he described that that was the right way to hold the stone..." Kaizen talked to himself as he positioned an enhancement crystal in the middle of his stand.

"What are you doing...?" Og'tharoz was about to ask, but suddenly the Psyker slammed his iron hammer into the middle of the lilac crystal on the stand.

*Bamm*

Pieces of the enhancement crystal flew everywhere, and a huge amount of energy was released from inside it as it shattered.

The demon was nonplussed by Kaizen's act. In all the centuries of his life he had never seen anyone destroy an enhancement crystal, because each crystal was very expensive and cost ten gold coins, a hundred dollars. To some, this wasn't much, but considering that from level five of enhancement at least 100 enhancement crystals are needed to have even the slightest chance of getting +5 Enhancement, the prices of enhancement crystals have always been absurd.

"Are you crazy!" shouted Og'tharoz, alarmed.

Kaizen didn't even pay attention to him; instead, he moved closer to the countertop and, by scattering the crystal dust to the sides, managed to find the crystal core, which looked like a carved blue jewel, beautiful in every way.

[You obtained an 'Enhancement Root'].

Seeing this small object that was among the fragments of what was once the enhancement crystal, the demon, interested, immediately asked:

"What is it?"

The black-haired boy smiled, relieved that this worked and that he had not wasted a hundred dollars. "That is the enhancement root that sits inside the enhancement crystals. That is what truly provides power to a weapon."

"Enhancement root? I've never heard of that before."

"I understand your reasons for that. Even I didn't know about it before I read about it in a certain book..." Kaizen said while also admiring the small gem. "Actually, it is the enhancement root that functions as a channeler of the energy that enhances the weapon while the crystal, which surrounds this gem, functions as a conductor. If I use the right strength and am precise enough, I can separate the conductor and the channeler."

The expression on the demon's face showed his shock at that moment. "That means that..."

"Exactly... By separating the conductor from the channeler, I can use a better material as a conductor instead of crystal, because the more a weapon is upgraded, the harder it is for the power inside the crystal to be able to penetrate the power already accumulated in the weapon. This is because the power inside the weapon clashes with the power inside the crystal because they get into a fight while, in fact, they need to intertwine and unite." Kaizen explained, gesturing.

To demonstrate more effectively, Kaizen broke ten enhancement crystals, successfully gathering nine enhancement roots. In only one did he fail because he used too much force.

Then Kaizen picked up the roots with clean hands and brought them close to Næġling Falske.

*Brimm*

Instantly, the bluish glow of the jewels became much more intense and when Kaizen placed the roots on the blade of the sword, it all connected magnetically like two magnets of opposing forces.

As the glow illuminated the workshop, Og'tharoz inquired:

"What chance of this working out!?"

"Either it will work out, or it won't!"

"What do you mean!? So it's fifty percent? No, it wouldn't make sense, because fifty percent is exactly the same chance that an enhancement crystal would normally have when enhancing a weapon for the first time! So why are you using nine at once?"

"Because it's more exciting that way, isn't it obvious? Besides, you've got it wrong. The chance of this going right or wrong is not only in each enhancement root, because the chance of an enhancement root being able to release its power is kept at fifty percent, after all this is the plumber. That's why even the first enhancement crystal has a chance of working out in just two tries."

"Are you saying that if you take out the driver, it makes it easier for the power channeled into the root to pass into weapon? That doesn't make sense."

"Of course it doesn't make sense, because that's not what's happening. I took out one conductor, but who that I didn't put in another?"

The demon looked at the sword and instantly remembered the scene from when Kaizen was still making her earth mold.

"That time..." He muttered.

"Yes, that time I scattered silver powder after establishing the shape of the sword. Since silver is an unmatched conductive ore where I come from, I think that each of the grains of dust will serve as interconnection points for the energy of the enhancement root... That way, the energy from each root will not clash when it tries to enter the sword, because they will be attracted by the connection points to fill empty places."

Kaizen leaned both arms on the table, looking at the sword closely.

"In the book I read, the blacksmith who described this method used copper, but I know silver is better, so I decided to take a chance. Now, it remains to be seen if this will work or if I failed for using silver."

"How will we know if it worked or not?" questioned Og'tharoz.

"If I made a mistake, the sword will either crack several times and split into dozens of pieces or it will have... this result you are seeing."

The final appearance of Næġling Falske was completely different from before. Before, its blade was gray because of the iron and silver, only now the blade had adopted the blue glow of the enhancement roots, closely resembling a sapphire sword. The handle was still black. The needle point emanated a crisp aura that could be seen with the naked eye.

[Item: Copy of the Næġling Sword (+7 Enhancement).

The legendary Næġling sword was forged after an unlikely union between two races that hate each other: the elves and the dwarves.

The real Næġling remains lost in history, but its diagram was kept secret by the mages of the Wizarding Tower until the arrival of a determined man.

Because this copy was produced by a blacksmith who uses dwarven and giant techniques, this sword will protect its bearer, even if it must create life of its own to do so.

Class: Epic.

Item Level: 1 of ?

Attack: 130 (+70)

Defense: 60 (+70)

Fitness Level needed: 47

(The effort applied to the sword will be rewarded in the sword's resistance. Every attack that exceeds 800 damage, the sword will halve it.)]

"You have succeeded..." Og'tharoz said, dumbfounded, staring at the sword of pulsing energy on the workbench in the center of the forge.

"No, I didn't make it. Only seven of the nine roots worked. Two failed."

At the same time that the demon was startled by Kaizen's annoyance, he was surprised.

'This kid just managed to do something I have never seen anyone do in my life and yet he is dissatisfied...' On Og'tharoz's face a smile appeared slack appeared and a shiver chilled him to the core. 'As expected from a Psyker...'

…

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

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