"Boss, enhance this for me!"
Fang Mo slammed the Manyullyn Cleaver on the table, shouting loudly.
"Huh!?"
Kiri, who was sweeping up a pile of metal scraps on the floor, was startled by Fang Mo's sudden shout. Her broom almost fell from her hands.
Instinctively, she looked up and noticed Fang Mo.
And of course, the giant purple blade beside him. Kiri was momentarily stunned but quickly smiled harmlessly.
"Looks like business has come!"
"Hehehe." Kiri greeted warmly, "This young man, quite handsome…"
To be honest, Kiri was surprisingly pretty.
In the game, her character illustration was already quite good, but seeing her in person, her looks seemed even better.
Her face was friendly and pleasing, adorned with just the right amount of makeup. Her dark brown hair was casually pinned up with two wooden hairpins, and she wore a breathable long robe. The neckline was very low, revealing a considerable amount of cleavage, and the left side of the robe had a high slit, showcasing her long, fair legs—typical of people from the Celestial Realm. She indeed gave off a vibe of a spirited and optimistic older sister.
Just standing there, she could attract a bunch of young, inexperienced adventurers.
In fact, Kiri had always done this—greeting passing adventurers and promoting her enhancement machine.
Unfortunately, today, her plans might fail.
Because Fang Mo didn't like this type of older sister character. Gun-wielding women were not his type. While some people might like that, Fang Mo did not.
"Cut the crap!"
Fang Mo slammed the table, showing no intention of humoring her. "Hurry up and enhance my weapon, or I'll punch your ashes into the Sky Sea!"
"Haha, young man, you have quite a temper."
But Kiri just laughed, "But you seem new here. This must be your first time in Hendon Myre, right? If you want to enhance equipment, you've come to the right person. Only I have this technology in the entire Arad continent."
Saying this, Kiri walked towards a machine.
"See this? This is called the enhancement furnace. It can make your equipment stronger."
Kiri patted a machine at the entrance of her shop and pointed to a weapon display rack. "See the glow on those weapons? That's the result of enhancement—they are several times stronger than before."
"Oh, really?"
Fang Mo nodded, feigning interest. "So what's the principle behind it?"
"Haha, it's Celestial technology. You wouldn't understand even if I explained." Kiri laughed but then explained, "In simple terms, it extracts the power of colorless crystals to enhance the weapon. But to start the machine, you need Furnace Carbon, unique to the Celestial Realm's Furnace Rock Desert."
"Where can I buy it?"
Fang Mo asked deliberately.
"I've found traces of it in the Arad continent." Kiri's smile became even brighter. "If you don't have it, you can buy it from me… of course, it costs extra."
"No problem, money is not an issue. I'll buy it from you."
Fang Mo waved generously and placed a large gold brick on the table. "Hurry up and enhance it."
"Hehehe, alright."
Kiri nodded immediately, reaching for the Manyullyn Cleaver on the table.
"Wait!"
Just as Kiri reached out, Fang Mo suddenly shouted sternly.
"Wh-what's wrong?" Kiri instinctively retracted her hand, her smile becoming stiff. "Handsome, is there a problem?"
"This enhancement…"
Fang Mo stared intently at Kiri. "Is it guaranteed to succeed?"
"Huh?"
Kiri was puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, sorry for interrupting." Fang Mo playfully touched his Manyullyn Cleaver. "What I mean is, does this enhancement carry any risk?"
"Oh, you mean this."
Kiri breathed a sigh of relief and then smiled charmingly. "Of course there's a risk... After all, how can getting stronger come without a price? Don't you think so, young man?"
"That makes sense."
Fang Mo nodded and then looked up at Kiri. "So... what is the price?"
"Rest assured, I have optimized this machine many times. Although there is still some risk of failure, the probability is very low."
Kiri patted her chest confidently. "And if you only enhance it ten times, the worst-case scenario is that it returns to its original state and won't damage the equipment. Of course, the strength gained this way is very low. If you really want to get stronger... you might consider enhancing it fifteen times in one go."
"Enhancing it fifteen times in one go, is that possible?"
Even Fang Mo couldn't help but react to Kiri's suggestion. "What if the enhancement fails?"
"If it fails, the equipment will be damaged, and the heat from the enhancement furnace will turn it into scraps." Kiri's eyes flickered slightly. "But I will try my best to help you recover the losses by returning the remaining crystal fragments and elemental crystals from the furnace."
"Alright then, if you break my equipment..."
Fang Mo paused for a moment, then seemed to make a decision and looked up. "Then just help me give your father a message."
"I'm sorry."
Kiri was taken aback but instinctively replied, "My father has already passed away."
"I know."
Fang Mo smiled and nodded.
"..."
Now it was Kiri's turn to be unable to smile.
After a long time, she finally managed an awkward smile. "Please rest assured, the success rate of my enhancement furnace is quite high."
"There's no need to say more."
Fang Mo nodded and then waved his hand. "Just go ahead with the enhancement."
"Hahaha, alright."
Hearing the word "enhancement," the awkwardness on Kiri's face instantly disappeared, and she cheerfully prepared to take the Manyullyn Cleaver from the table. But just then, Fang Mo slapped the table again.
"Wait!"
"What's your problem, young man?"
Kiri was interrupted several times and was honestly a bit displeased. She frowned and asked, "Don't you want to get stronger?"
"Of course I want to get stronger."
Fang Mo raised an eyebrow. "But I didn't say you could touch my Cleaver. Did I say I wanted to enhance it?"
"Then you want to..."
Before Kiri could finish her sentence, Fang Mo pulled out a wooden sword from his pocket and slammed it onto the table. "Enhancing is a significant event in life, so of course, we need to test it with a disposable item first... Enhance this wooden sword ten times for me without a single failure!"
"Oh, I see."
Upon hearing this, Kiri smiled brightly and took the wooden sword. "Young man, you should have said so earlier."
As she spoke, Kiri began to fiddle with the furnace next to her.
It was a person-high furnace, looking quite large, with a mess of engines, pipes, and wires at the back. The front end had a round can shape, overall lead-gray in color, with a groove for inserting the weapon.
Kiri grabbed a few furnace coals and threw them into the furnace.
Soon, the furnace made a huge roaring sound, and flames started to rise from within.
Afterwards, Kiri casually inserted the wooden sword into the furnace, which then emitted an even more piercing noise, akin to the sound of the disassembler in IC2 or the crusher in IE from Minecraft, a clanging that made one's head throb.
About ten seconds later.
The machine gradually quieted down, and Kiri pulled the wooden sword out.
"Look, handsome, the weapon has been successfully upgraded." Kiri handed the wooden sword to Fang Mo, and it now glowed with a faint white light. "It's now upgraded to +1. Shall we continue?"
"Didn't I say to upgrade it ten times?"
Fang Mo didn't even glance at the wooden sword and said directly, "Did you not understand me?"
"...Ha ha, alright."
Kiri said nothing more and quickly continued putting the weapon back into the furnace. After several operations, the wooden sword was soon upgraded ten times.
"Handsome, it's done."
Kiri placed the wooden sword on the table and wiped it with a soft cloth, asking, "Shall we upgrade your weapon next?"
"Upgrade what! Wait! Another ten times and they'll all fail... there won't be any success at all!" Fang Mo said sternly, then pulled out an iron sword and threw it on the table. "This one is just a placeholder!"
"I..."
Kiri frowned at this. "You just said it was fine if it succeeded, but now you want it to fail. I can't control the furnace, what if it succeeds..."
"Just go ahead and upgrade it. Do you think I'll shortchange you?"
Fang Mo angrily pulled out a few gold ingots.
"If the handsome guy wants to upgrade... I'll help you upgrade it, but the furnace is out of my control." Kiri took a deep breath and forced a smile, picking up the iron sword and heading back to the furnace to continue working.
This time the upgrading process was not smooth.
After a few upgrades, the furnace made some strange noises, and then with a cracking sound, the upgrade failed, and the level regressed. After several more attempts, Kiri finally managed to upgrade the iron sword ten times.
"This placeholder... this weapon is upgraded too."
After completing the upgrade, Kiri couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.
Although upgrading didn't take long, this wasn't a game. Kiri had to toss in furnace carbon and colorless small crystals each time, going back and forth, and these dozens of upgrades took until almost noon.
As mentioned earlier, Kiri's was the only upgrade shop in Arad.
So, despite being a rip-off, many adventurers still came, hoping to upgrade their equipment.
However, at this moment, Fang Mo sat with a gloomy face inside, and Kiri, exhausted from the upgrades outside, was also frustrated. This scared off other adventurers, who didn't want to leave, so they simply waited at the door.
More adventurers gathered, and eventually, a crowd formed. Other residents, curious about the commotion, also gathered around.
Seeing the adventurers outside, Kiri hurried back inside with the iron sword.
"This time you should upgrade your own weapon, right?"
Wiping the iron sword with a soft cloth, Kiri quickly spoke to Fang Mo, as there were many adventurers waiting outside, and the work needed to be done quickly.
But to Kiri's surprise.
Instead of nodding, Fang Mo pulled out a golden sword from behind.
"Upgrade this golden sword for me ten times without failure on the hilt, and ten times without success on the blade. Otherwise, I'll throw the previous two swords at you and see if the furnace burns or you do."
"...You're messing with me, aren't you?"
Kiri couldn't hold back anymore and slammed the iron sword on the table.
"I didn't pay to make placeholders? Why can't I make more placeholders?"
Fang Mo retorted directly, "You yourself said the upgrading machine might fail. My Manyullyn Cleaver has been with me for so long, who knows how many... how many people it has cured. If it breaks here, can you compensate?"
"Your equipment breaking has nothing to do with me."
After being tormented by Fang Mo all morning, Kiri was clearly angry and stopped pretending. "But if you're a man... just put the weapon in the furnace and try it, stop fussing. Other adventurers aren't as fussy as you."
"Why don't you ask my weapon?"
Fang Mo shrugged. "If it doesn't make a sound, you can upgrade it."
"Then I won't be polite."
Kiri, already angry, didn't hesitate and reached out to grab the Manyullyn Cleaver on the table.
To her surprise.
Just as she was about to touch the hilt, the Cleaver spoke.
"Kiri, damn you!"
The Manyullyn Cleaver, lying quietly on the table, suddenly trembled and retreated a bit. Then a straightforward voice echoed through the whole Hendon Myre Street.
"If you touch your grandpa today, try it!!!"