The Return of the Legendary All-Master

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 299

[Wow, there’s a lot here.]

At last, the ruins looked as they should.

Various things caught his eye, but Jeong-hoon ignored them all.

The only thing he sought was the elixir.

He had come to decipher the book Moras had spent his life preserving.

‘He said he hid it in a small cave.’

Whenever Jeong-hoon saw a hole, he reached in without hesitation.

Various items appeared, but none were of much use to him.

Then, on his 24th attempt, he finally grasped the glass bottle he had been searching for.

“I found it.”

Jeong-hoon pulled out the glass bottle.

It was filled with a green liquid.

===

[Ultimate Detoxification Elixir]

- Type: Consumable

- Grade: Ultimate

- A potion that neutralizes any toxin.

- Pour a certain amount where needed, and the answer will be revealed.

===

Jeong-hoon took out the book he had stored in his inventory.

[???'s Book]

- Currently unreadable.

“Unreadable, huh?”

Jeong-hoon smirked and carefully dripped the elixir onto the book.

Then, a change occurred.

===

[Ultimate: Rise in Rank]

- Type: Skill Book

- Grade: Ultimate

- Using this skill book grants the skill ‘Rise in Rank (Ultimate).’

===

Moras’s book was, in fact, a skill book.

And the skill it contained was one Jeong-hoon knew well.

‘Rise in Rank?’

He already possessed the skill.

But the grade was different.

The one he had was Celestial.

And the skill book before him was Ultimate.

‘I can raise my rank even further!’

For Jeong-hoon, who needed to close the gap between himself and the Transcendents, this was the most crucial skill.

Without hesitation, he used the skill book.

The book shone briefly before merging into him.

[Ultimate skill ‘Rise in Rank’ has been acquired.]

[You currently possess the Transcendent skill ‘Rise in Rank.’]

[The skills are merging, and ‘Rise in Rank’ is automatically leveling up.]

‘Good.’

[Rise in Rank]

- Type: Passive

- Level: 10

- Grade: Ultimate

- Increases rank by four stages.

His rank, which previously increased by two stages, now leaped by four.

With this, the gap between him and the Sovereign-class had narrowed even further.

Having deciphered the book, Jeong-hoon returned to the castle and reported to Grand Duke Delphos.

“You… You succeeded in deciphering it?”

Grand Duke Delphos was startled as he asked again in disbelief.

“Yes.”

Jeong-hoon nodded and took out the now-used skill book.

When he opened the book, the once-empty pages were now densely filled with unknown characters.

It was proof that he had been recognized as its master.

“…Incredible.”

“Then, I’ll return this to you.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve already used it. I don’t need it anymore.”

It was a treasure of the Grand Duchy.

Though it had lost its value as a skill book, it was still a treasure worth preserving.

Grand Duke Delphos, visibly moved, personally received the book.

“Thank you!”

“Yes. We’ll rest for a day and then depart from here.”

“Huh? You could stay a little longer…”

“No, there’s a lot I need to do.”

With this task completed, it was time to move on to the next plan.

* * *

At the same time.

“Are we just going to keep wandering around here?”

Sophia Stephanie Agareth questioned James with a face full of frustration.

Just as she said, James Marcus had not moved beyond a 20km radius since arriving in Darvis.

“There’s still not enough information. We can’t just charge ahead blindly.”

To cross into Darvis, they had to hunt down the Ultimate Knight.

That knight was Level 1,100.

Since they had to defeat such a powerful foe just to get here, it was clear that Darvis itself was crawling with similarly strong opponents.

Moving recklessly without proper information would be foolish.

It was wiser to expand their search radius gradually, gather intel, and then act accordingly.

“But others have already crossed into Darvis. If we keep this up, the gap will only widen.”

The HoneyTube Party had already gone ahead.

If not for them, Sophia wouldn’t have been so frustrated.

“There’s nothing we can do.”

That party had Honey1.

No one here could match Honey1’s strength.

Because of that, James, the party leader, had no choice but to be cautious.

“Haa…”@@novelbin@@

Faced with his stubborn attitude, Sophia could say nothing more.

And then—

Step. Step.

Someone familiar was walking toward them.

When James saw the person’s face, his eyes widened.

“H-Honey1?”

At the mention of Honey1, everyone’s attention shifted in that direction.

Just as James said, it was indeed Honey1.

While his face was blurred out on YouTube, they recognized him immediately.

‘Colossus Ursus.’

The man who single-handedly defeated Colossus Ursus, an opponent they had thought was impossible to take down.

“It’s been a while.”

Honey1—Jeong-hoon—greeted them with an indifferent expression.

He had expected them to have made it to Darvis, but he hadn’t anticipated running into them like this.

“Y-Yeah. Thanks to the video you uploaded, we were able to cross into Darvis safely. I appreciate it.”

James expressed his gratitude.

“What about a reward?”

Jeong-hoon didn’t say he was glad to have helped.

Even after learning the reason behind their betrayal through Psyche’s Pocket Watch, he still didn’t see them in a favorable light.

“A-Ah, sorry. I didn’t prepare anything, but… do you need something?”

“Forget it. I was just saying.”

Jeong-hoon moved to walk past them.

The only reason he was here was to use the portal.

He was heading straight for the Alchemist’s District.

“W-Wait a second!”

James urgently grabbed Jeong-hoon’s arm.

“What is it? Do you still have something to say?”

“Could you share any information about Darvis…? Even just a little?”

“No. How much more do you want me to spoon-feed you?”

Jeong-hoon’s eyebrow twitched violently.

“……”

James’ face turned bright red.

He couldn’t think of a single way to argue back.

Seeing that, Jeong-hoon let out a sigh and added one more thing.

“Well, I guess I can tell you one thing. Head west. It’s the safest place, and the best spot for growth.”

“W-West?”

“Yeah. If you keep expanding your search radius, you’ll figure it out. The west was the easiest.”

Just as Jeong-hoon said, the dungeons in the west weren’t too high-level.

“Thank you so much!”

“Yeah.”

Without saying anything more, Jeong-hoon walked past them and headed toward the portal.

“We’re heading west.”

Following Jeong-hoon’s advice, James Marcus decided to move west.

“Understood.”

With their destination set, Sophia no longer voiced any complaints.

* * *

Alchemist’s District.

Jeong-hoon went straight to Rigriner.

“Welcome! I’ve been waiting for you!”

Rigriner greeted Jeong-hoon with great enthusiasm.

Judging by his beaming expression, it seemed he had made progress.

“I came by for a progress check, but it looks like you’ve had some success.”

When Jeong-hoon had commissioned Rigriner, the deadline had been set for two months.

And there was still a long way to go before those two months were up.

The reason Jeong-hoon visited now was to collect the enhancement stones that had been extracted so far.

Before moving on to the next phase of his plan, he needed to upgrade at least one of Mukho, Anima, or Leviathan.

“You won’t believe it! I extracted everything!”

“You extracted everything?”

Somehow, in this short period, Rigriner had managed to extract all the materials from the equipment.

“Yes! My master left behind an extractor, and it allows for mass extraction!”

“I see.”

“I was just wondering how I should contact you!”

“The timing worked out well.”

“Yes! Please wait a moment!”

Shortly after, Rigriner brought out a sack.

“Thank you.”

Taking the sack, Jeong-hoon immediately checked its contents.

- Ultimate Enhancement Stone x5

- Celestial Enhancement Stone x63

- Legendary Enhancement Stone x76

- Unique Enhancement Stone x105

- Epic Enhancement Stone x165

These were the results of extracting all the equipment.

‘That’s a lot.’

He had gathered quite a haul.

With this, he could now upgrade Mukho and Anima.

[Am I finally leveling up too?!]

‘You were pretty upset about getting overshadowed by mere daggers and spears.’

Mukho and Anima both seemed eager.

“Shall we get started then?”

First up—Mukho.

[Mukho’s enhancement level has reached MAX.]

[Proceeding to equipment upgrade.]

[Materials are required for the upgrade.]

Jeong-hoon selected the Stable Shadow Celestial Engraving Stone.

[Stable Shadow Celestial Engraving Stone]

- An engraving stone infused with celestial power.

- When used, it grants an additional shadow option.

- Can upgrade equipment up to Legendary (Max Enhanced), with the following success rates.

Now, it was time to elevate Mukho to Celestial.

[You have selected the upgrade material.]

[Would you like to attempt the upgrade?]

[Once attempted, this action cannot be undone. Please think carefully before proceeding.]

If the success rate weren’t 100%, this message would have caused hesitation.

But since it was a guaranteed success, there was no need to hesitate.

‘Proceed.’

[Initiating upgrade.]

At that moment, a brilliant light burst forth from Mukho, which Jeong-hoon was wearing.

It was so bright that it was nearly blinding.

As the light gradually faded, Mukho shone radiantly, different from before.

[Upgrade successful.]

===

[Mukho]

- Type: Armor

- Grade: Celestial

- Defense: ? (Adjusted to 1.5x the wearer’s level)

- Evasion Rate: ? (Adjusted to 1.5x the wearer’s level)

- Physical Damage Reduction: 40%

- Magic Damage Reduction: 40%

- Remaining Durability: 100% (Durability automatically recovers)

- Special Ability (1): Increases Debuff Resistance by 50% when equipped.

- Special Ability (2): Has a low chance (3%) to reflect melee attacks when equipped.

- Special Ability (3): [Passive: Cooldown Reduction] activates automatically when equipped.

- Special Ability (4): Grants access to [Active: Indestructible Diamond Body].

- Shadow Option (1): Configurable.

===

Mukho’s stats had improved across the board.

[Kuhaha! I’m stronger than when I was with Siegfried!]

Mukho let out an unending stream of laughter, clearly pleased.

[Now it’s my turn! Hurry up! Let’s go!]

Having watched Mukho’s upgrade, Anima grew impatient and began pestering Jeong-hoon.

“Alright, calm down.”

Now, it was Anima’s turn.

[Initiating upgrade.]

[Upgrade successful.]

Jeong-hoon used the second engraving stone on Anima, successfully upgrading it as well.

[You have achieved an incredible feat! ‘Celestial Equipment Upgrade x3’ completed! Achievement Points: 300,000 awarded.]

From the headpiece to Mukho and Anima—

Now, all that remained was using the Ultimate Star to elevate them to Ultimate.

‘Of course, it won’t be easy.’

The condition for using the Ultimate Star was that Celestial equipment had to be fully enhanced.

[Celestial Enhancement Stone]

- An enhancement stone that can enhance Celestial-grade equipment.

- Can be obtained at a low probability when hunting Level 500+ bosses.

- Success Rate: 2% (Applies to all enhancement levels).

- Failure Penalty: 50% chance of equipment destruction.

And the success rate of the Celestial Enhancement Stone was only 2%.

That meant, on average, one success per 50 attempts.

But with bad luck, even 50 attempts might not yield a single success.

The real problem was that failure had a 50% chance of destroying the equipment.

The equipment that had been painstakingly upgraded to Celestial could vanish into dust after just one failed attempt.

So, what was the solution?

‘I need to upgrade my skill.’

Current Skill:

Transcendent Enhancement: Legendary.

This skill ensured 0% destruction chance and no reduction in enhancement attempts, making full enhancement possible.

However, the skill’s effect only applied up to Legendary.

It did not work for Celestial-grade equipment.

That was why upgrading Transcendent Enhancement was necessary.

‘Alright, time to move on to the next phase of the plan.’

And the next phase was upgrading the Transcendent Enhancement skill.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]