Chapter 49

[Welcome to the Enhancement Lab!]

[Enhance or polish your runes!]

Baek Jinwoo walked directly toward the enhancement lab.

He had accumulated a massive stockpile of low-grade runes to use as upgrade materials from his continuous grinding sessions.

[Would you like to enhance?]

Rare runes were essentially endgame equipment by design anyway.

There was no point in washing his hands for good luck or placing a bowl of clean water out to pray for fortune.

“Yes.”

He decided to complete the process all at once.

[Level 2!]

[STR +12% → STR +24%]

[Level 3!]

[INT +12% → INT +24%]

[Level 4!]

[VIT +12% → VIT +24%]

[Level 5!]

[AGI +12% → AGI +24%]

[Level 6!]

[STR +24% → STR +36%]

[Level 7!]

[INT +24% → INT +36%]

[Level 8!]

[VIT +24% → VIT +36%]

[Level 9!]

[AGI +24% → AGI +36%]

[Level Max!]

[Crit Damage +20% → Crit Damage +40%]

[Enhancement has reached maximum!]

“Hnngh.”

A massive amount of upgrading materials disappeared in an instant, but the resulting numbers that appeared before his eyes were satisfying enough to make the steep cost worthwhile.

[Rune]

[Rank: Supreme-grade (Rare)]

• Limited to 100 worldwide.

[Set Effect: Omni]

• Equipping 6 increases all stats by 500%, HP by 10,000.

• 2 additional stat options.

[Level: Max]

[Stat Increase]

STR +36%, INT +36%, VIT +36%, AGI +36%, Crit Rate +10%, Crit Damage +40%

“Yeah, THAT’S what I’m talking about!”

Baek Jinwoo didn’t stop and kept the upgrading process rolling.

He did this for all six of them.

He didn’t bother using an abrasive.

It wasn’t necessary.

Applying abrasive could theoretically push his Crit Rate to 100%, but it wasn’t worth the trouble.

These were only transitional runes.

They weren’t his final endgame runes.

He intended to replace them with superior alternatives further down the road.

• My lord, thank you.

Baek Jinwoo slotted all six fully upgraded Omni Runes straight into Drill Sarge.

Right after that.

[Summon: Drill Instructor]

[Species: Human]

[Rank: EX-rank (Quarantine Designation)]

• Quarantined due to balance-breaking elements detected under specific conditions.

[Level: 40]

[Current Stats]

STR: 315, INT: 315, VIT: 315, AGI: 315

HP: 30,000, MP: 5,000

Crit Rate: 80%

Crit Damage: 260%

[Skills]

• Growth: Grows through training.

• Charisma: Overwhelms other summons.

• Instructor: Unlocks latent potential in other summons and amplifies their growth rate.

Holy shit.

The stat increase was absolutely monstrous.

Drill Sarge’s base STR, INT, VIT, and AGI at Lv. 40 without any runes equipped were merely 20 each.

With six separate runes each providing a 36% attribute boost, that added up to a total 216% rune bonus.

Multiplying 20 by 2.16 yielded an additional 63.2.

This rounded down to 63.

Next came the set effect’s 500% boost, which was applied multiplicatively.

To put it plainly: everything added together, multiplied by five.

That was the method behind reaching the absurd total of 315.

To put that scale into perspective……

An ordinary adult possessed roughly 2 STR.

A highly trained professional athlete reached around 5.

Anything exceeding that threshold entered the realm of superhuman capability.

While these weren’t precise scientific numbers, roughly speaking, a gorilla possessed STR 10, and a tiger sat at 20…… Anything higher than that, he’d leave to the imagination.

Honestly?

Even Baek Jinwoo couldn’t fully comprehend what 315 STR actually translated to in reality.

It was likely enough to easily clear through the Tower of Trials up to floor 60 at the bare minimum?

It was best to just think of it as blindingly powerful and move along.

• My lord, am I to use these and then pass them on to Aso later?

“You knew?”

• Of course. You intend to have the Rune Dwarf combine three Omni Runes into a Trinity Rune, do you not? The Trinity is exclusively for Aso.

Well, damn.

He had intended to explain that entire strategy later on……

Drill Sarge went ahead and spoiled the surprise.

“Got it in one. Can’t get anything past you.”

Then again.

It made perfect sense that he would know.

Drill Sarge was the very person who had unlocked the Rune Dwarf’s latent potential in the first place.

The Trinity was a Unique rune that only a Rune Dwarf was capable of crafting.

And its sheer performance completely eclipsed the Omni.

It was powerful enough to carry a user all the way through floor 100 of the Tower of Trials without breaking a sweat.

That was precisely the reason Baek Jinwoo had been so stubborn about acquiring 18 Omni Runes!

• I am content, my lord. In truth, there is another rune I desire.

“I know. The Master Rune, right?”

• Correct, my lord.

The Master Rune belonged to the Rare tier as well.

It was specialized for instructing others, making it another unique item the Rune Dwarf could craft.

• I find joy and fulfillment in tempering others and watching them surpass their limits. The Omni Rune is exceptional, but the rune that truly suits me is ‘Master.’

Yeah.

Thanks for saying that.

Baek Jinwoo understood completely.

He knew Drill Sarge was expressing this to put his mind at ease.

Summons were living entities capable of independent thought and speech.

Naturally, they would lean toward superior, more expensive runes.

Someday.

He would craft another full set and give it to him.

There were 100 Omni Runes scattered across the world, after all.

He could track down more, and if that proved too difficult, the Rune Dwarf could simply forge them.

In theory, he could produce two additional sets of Trinity Runes!

• Then, I shall return to training!

Whether it was due to the massive rune boost or pure excitement, Drill Sarge marched away with an energetic bounce in his step.

Baek Jinwoo watched his departure with a satisfied nod.

Just then, a message arrived from Jasim.

If Jinwoo could rescue his daughter, the absolute apple of his eye, Jasim would happily grant him not just five supreme-grade Omni Runes, but an even greater reward.

Come at any time, the message read. Do not hesitate.

“Jinwoo-ssi.”

Yu Jia approached and conveyed the practical arrangements.

“He says to come to Dubai. He has dispatched a private jet along with a pilot, so we can make the flight in comfort.”

Whoa.

Middle Eastern wealth was truly on another level.

Deploying an entire private aircraft just to invite him over?

But jokes aside.

Baek Jinwoo detected a deeper meaning beneath that grand gesture.

Desperation.

That was how intensely the man desired to cure his daughter.

“Apparently he has commissioned more players than he can count over the years. Not a single one managed to identify his daughter’s illness.”

“I see. So do I just go alone?”

“No.”

Yu Jia shook her head side to side.

“Jinwoo-ssi, can you speak Arabic?”

“Not a single word.”

Arabic? He couldn’t even converse in English.

“Exactly. So you need me.”

“……Jia-ssi, you speak Arabic too?”

“Yeah, I can get by in most languages.”

“Oh.”

Now that was a completely different level of intellectual elite.

Most people boasted about mastering a small handful of languages, but she could handle almost all of them?

Wasn’t that just a flat-out genius?

How many distinct languages even existed across the globe?!

Well, it was certainly a good thing she was taggng along.

Battle of Summoners possessed a built-in auto-translation feature, sure, but real life was a completely different matter.

“Then let’s go together. Just let me know when we’re heading out. Should be a quick trip.”

Thud-d-d-d-d!

The private aircraft took off into the sky.

Baek Jinwoo and Yu Jia departed for Dubai.

During the flight, just in case an emergency arose, Ramba spent the entire travel time stacking continuous enhancements on Drill Sarge.

She also loaded identical stacks onto Rolly, who remained on standby nearby while maintaining invisibility.

For reference, a summon’s standard deployment limit was five hours, and unsummoning followed by re-summoning meant all accumulated stacks had to be built up from scratch.

• Hiiing!

Because of this, Ramba was the one who truly suffered through the process.

“When we get back to Korea, I’ll stuff the fridge full of cream buns. Hang in there.”

• Okaaaaay……

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!

From the exact moment they touched down in Dubai until they eventually returned to Korea.

They couldn’t afford to let their guard down.

Public security wasn’t exactly perfect, whether domestically or internationally.

Some time slipped by.

Thud-d-d-d-d!

Before long, their feet were touching Dubai soil.

They didn’t land at a public airport, either. It was a private runway constructed directly on the estate grounds.

Good lord.

A residential property with its very own runway.

It was the first time he had ever witnessed such a thing.

As they disembarked the aircraft, a bearded man dressed in white robes and a traditional headdress stepped forward to greet Baek Jinwoo.

“So you’re the famous player Baek Jinwoo from Korea. It’s an honor to meet you!”

“Huh?”

The man’s spoken Korean was completely flawless.

“Ahaha, I expected that exact reaction. You see the bird perched on my shoulder? It’s a limited-edition B-rank Interpreter Bird. It converts the surrounding area into an active translation zone. Just speak naturally, and every word will be automatically interpreted for me as well.”

“……Oh.”

Such an item actually existed?

Then there had been no actual necessity for Yu Jia to come along.

He cast a quick glance sideways.

Yu Jia was staring blankly at the creature, her face representing the absolute picture of an existential crisis.

You couldn’t blame her.

If you had poured your entire heart into mastering global languages only to discover a bird could replicate the effort instantly, anyone would feel that way.

“So you’re Jasim. I’m Baek Jinwoo.”

“You said you might be able to identify my daughter’s illness. And that if treatment is successful, you’d like supreme-grade Omni Runes.”

Jasim didn’t beat around the bush or waste time.

He must have been incredibly desperate, because he sliced straight to the heart of the matter.

That was all the better.

“That’s right. Though I can’t guarantee anything. I just want to take a look.”

“……Even without guarantees, that’s fine. If there’s even a slight possibility…… please. Do everything you can.”

He appeared quite young.

But his parental affection for his daughter was overwhelming.

“Then shall we go see her?”

Jasim guided them into a lavishly adorned bedroom.

Resting on a pink French-style canopy bed lay a young girl, her facial complexion deathly pale.

She appeared to be roughly thirteen or fourteen years old.

“Jasim.”

“Yes.”

“Would you mind stepping out for a moment?”

In order to properly diagnose the girl, he needed to converse freely with Drill Sarge.

Having Jasim watching the interaction would make things highly awkward.

“……”

Noticing the man’s immediate unease, Jinwoo spoke up to reassure him.

“If you’d like, we can execute a formal system contract. One clearly stating I won’t pose any threat whatsoever to your daughter.”

Baek Jinwoo offered the terms.

But.

After a brief period of internal deliberation, Jasim lowered his head and took a step back.

“No. I chose to place my trust in you, so I should see that trust through to the end.”

In reality, Jasim had already completed a exhaustive background investigation into Baek Jinwoo before inviting him.

A national hero of Korea!

The individual who might secretly be JinuGod, a figure revered by top-tier rankers worldwide.

A person of that caliber wouldn’t stoop to performing anything vile toward his child, or attempt to blackmail him.

At least, that was the conclusion that had to be true.

Because if Jinwoo decided to launch threats right this second, Jasim possessed no way to stop him whether he remained in the room or not.

“Thank you for your trust.”

After escorting Jasim out of the room, Baek Jinwoo summoned Drill Sarge.

“Drill Sarge.”

• Yes, my lord.

“Take a look. She doesn’t seem to be in good shape.”

“Hnngh…… ngh……”

The young girl’s feverish breaths escaped in ragged, painful gasps, with cold sweat completely drenching her body.

She looked entirely chilled to the bone, her overall color looking terrible.

Thud.

Drill Sarge stepped closer to the bedside and gripped her forearm, pressing his fingertips to her pulse point.

I knew it.

He closed his eyes tightly and nodded in confirmation.

Severed Meridian Syndrome.

A congenital disease, widely recognized within the martial arts world as one of its most incurable conditions.

And it was the rare Nine-Yin variant at that.

Her internal yin energy was so overwhelmingly powerful that nine distinct blood meridians throughout her body had twisted tightly shut, completely unable to function.

Naturally, her vital qi couldn’t circulate properly, leaving her to waste away in constant sickness until an untimely early death.

There was no standard known cure. But if a single remedy existed, it was singular.

An incredibly powerful yang energy.

“Well? Think you know what it is?”

“Oh, really? What?”

• Nine-Yin Severed Meridian Syndrome.

“……Nine-Yin Severed Meridian Syndrome?”

What on earth was that supposed to mean?

“Can you treat it?”

• One moment, my lord. I am thinking.

Behind Drill Sarge’s shut eyelids, an incredibly vast repository of ancient knowledge began to unfold.

As he filtered through that massive internal treasury, even he found himself utterly stunned.

It was truly this extensive?

Far more raw information was flooding directly into his mind than ever before.

EX-rank.

Was this the direct result of his rank upgrade?

Or perhaps the unique Instructor skill he had recently acquired?

Contained within that knowledge was the expertise of Hua Tuo, the Divine Physician of the Martial Realm, a legendary S-rank summon.

Strictly speaking, this was information intended for training Hua Tuo, so he couldn’t personally perform the medical techniques himself.

But possessing that knowledge alone was more than enough to recall the exact remedy for Nine-Yin Severed Meridian Syndrome.

• Stormy.

“Hm?”

• We need Stormy’s Blaze, my lord. With that specific power, I can treat her.