I Gain Infinite Gold Just By Waiting-Chapter 254: Episode 51_Preparation (4)
5.
The biggest change when “Gold Enhancement” upgraded to “Gold Premium Enhancement” was the complete reset of all his enhancement levels.
As a result, his weapon, armor, and accessories were all back at level 1. The enhancements he’d had before were now applied as (S) Legendary-grade effects that had carried over.
Strictly speaking, in terms of Gold Enhancement alone, he had barely gained anything from ranking up to SVIP.
However, Kim Buja didn’t see it that way.
[Would you like to enhance your weapon?]
▶ Current Level: 1 → 2
▶ Gold Required: 500,000
▶ Success Chance: 5% (+5%)
▶ Failure Chance: 95% (−5%)
▶ Options on Success
1. Attack Power +300
2. Attack Power +24%
3. Absorb 15% of damage dealt as Mana
4. Recover 5% HP on enemy kill
5. Defense Penetration +3%
And for good reason.
All the other content unlocked with SVIP demanded hundreds of millions, even billions, of gold as a baseline, but Gold Enhancement costs had barely gone up. Even for his weapon, the cost per attempt had only risen from 300,000 to 500,000.
Of course, he wasn’t naïve enough to be happy that it had “only” gone up by 200,000.
His success chance, which had been around 20–25%, had plummeted to 5%. The average cost to reach the next level obviously wasn’t going to be a mere 500,000 gold.
Even so, considering his bonus raised the success chance to 10%, the potential cost was well worth the options he’d gain on a success.
Besides, his weapon wasn’t the only thing he could enhance.
Hat, top, bottom, gloves, shoes, ring, earrings, necklace.
He still had eight slots left, and just like with the weapon, raising each of those to level 2 would provide excellent returns.
’I’ll stop at level 2. For enhancement, anyway.’
He already had a plan.
In the past, he would have dumped all his gold into enhancing his weapon, but not anymore. His roughly 22 million gold would vanish in no time if he clicked mindlessly. The first enhancement level cost 500,000 gold, but the second could easily double, and even at just twice the cost, that amount would disappear in the blink of an eye.
More importantly, the efficiency wouldn’t be there.
The first option he got from enhancing after the SVIP upgrade gave him a whopping 300 attack power, but the gains from level 2 onward wouldn’t be nearly as significant.
He would raise each piece to level 2, maximize profit at the minimum cost, and then get out.
He had opened the Gold Enhancement window with steely resolve, but that was as far as his plan went.
’I should be able to get it all done within 22 million, right?’
Even that was a tall order, and the fact that he needed luck on his side bothered him.
Still, he started with a flutter of excitement.
[Enhancement has failed.]
* * *
The plan had been grand.
He would raise all his Gold Enhancements to level 2, and if he had any gold left over, he would finally revisit his Refinement effects.
On paper, it sounded like a modest enough wish. He had over 22 million gold, and all he had to do was successfully enhance nine items once each. If luck cooperated even a little, he could finally upgrade the equipment refinement effects that had been stagnant for so long.
However, lurking behind that simple plan was a 10% chance of success.
Even with simple math, he would need roughly 5 million gold to get one enhancement through.
He was left speechless.
Of course, it wasn’t like he would literally succeed once every ten tries on the dot. Probability was just luck in the end. Whether it was 10% or 1%, if the successful roll was pulled forward out of the ten or hundred attempts, it could pop early.
But that luck still couldn’t escape the bounds of probability. There was a reason the law of averages existed. You might get lucky and succeed quickly once or twice, but over two, three, ten, or a hundred attempts, the results would inevitably converge toward the expected value.
Kim Buja felt that from the very first attempt on his weapon.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. It took fifteen tries to get one enhancement?”
He had failed to break through that 10% chance and blown 7.5 million gold.
Just to enhance a single weapon.
Only then did the reality hit him. Gold Enhancement at the SVIP rank now demanded SVIP-level gold.
And with that realization came a wave of anxiety.
His 22 million gold had already dropped to 14 million. While not every item would be that unlucky, if things kept going at a similar pace, he would be fortunate to enhance two or three pieces before he ran dry.
What was he supposed to do?
No alternative came to mind. There was only one thing he could do.
’Please, I won’t be greedy. Just let me get all nine slots to +2.’
After indulging in plenty of greed, Kim Buja hesitated for a moment before starting another round of enhancements. Then, he turned on his stream.
—Huh? A surprise stream?
—What’s going on?
Viewers flooded in at the unexpected live broadcast.
Kim Buja came clean.
“I’m enhancing right now, and my gold is getting sucked dry in the most ridiculous way.”
—Ohhh! Enhancement stream!
He had never uploaded enhancement videos before. He had never felt the need, and back then, he had been trying hard to hide anything related to Gold Maker. Gold Enhancement was his most important trump card, the core of his power that needed to stay hidden.
But that was no longer the case.
At some point, Gold Enhancement had become just another skill that supported him.
So he could show it off without worry.
“I figured if my luck doesn’t hold, I might not be able to finish the enhancements, so I turned on the stream.”
—What, you want us to pray for you or something?
“No. If praying actually made enhancements succeed, I would’ve gone live ages ago and held a rain dance with you all. Just watching is enough. Your views are what will make my enhancements succeed.”
He wasn’t just saying that. Thanks to the mileage system, every video he streamed generated revenue in the form of points or gold, even if he didn’t set it to paid. He couldn’t earn huge amounts without setting a price, but with so many people watching, it was still better than nothing.
—Just start enhancing already.
—What are you enhancing?
The viewers, unaware of his true motive, were just happy that he had gone live and were excited about the new content.
After a brief intro, he showed them the next item.
—Wow, one enhancement gives +300 attack? And defense penetration and attack %? That’s insane.
—That means that one already succeeded, right?
—Yeah, he said he spent 7.5 million gold on it.
—I still can’t wrap my head around those gold amounts. That’s a lot, right?
—He said he farmed like crazy for a month and a half to get 22 million, so yeah, it’s a lot.
—He blew 7.5 million on one item and still wants the other eight to succeed? The nerve.
—He’ll probably get like two more and that’s it.
There was nothing special about watching enhancement attempts. Just like in any other game, when he hit the Enhance button, a holographic effect appeared. If it succeeded, a radiant light burst out; if it failed, there was a shattering effect as his gold evaporated.
Anyone who had played games for even a little while would be sick of this sight.
Yet none of the viewers showed any sign of boredom.
—Let’s go!
—This is nuts. Look at those options for a 10% success chance. This really is a god-tier class.
The options that appeared when you pressed the Enhance button once were so absurd that ordinary players couldn’t even imagine them. If this had been regular Gold Enhancement, it would never have been this crazy.
[Would you like to enhance your hat?]
▶ Current Level: 1 → 2
▶ Gold Required: 500,000
▶ Success Chance: 5% (+5%)
▶ Failure Chance: 95% (−5%)
▶ Options on Success
1. Strength +3%
2. HP +1%
3. Perfect Defense +1%
The options that changed with the SVIP Enhancement upgrade were excellent as well. Even if the numbers looked small, percentage-based Strength and HP were incredibly efficient for Kim Buja, whose stats had already broken past the 500 mark.
—For someone like Kim Buja, how much is 1% Strength?
—I dunno. What are top rankers’ stats usually at?
—Roughly 3–4 points per 1%, maybe?
—Aren’t you lowballing it using average rankers?
As more and more of Gold Maker’s abilities were revealed, the viewers watched with growing curiosity.
Seeing their reactions, Kim Buja rolled his shoulders and casually dropped a line.
“1% Strength is about six or seven points for me. HP is around eleven.”
He delivered the numbers in a serious tone, as if stating hard facts, and the chat instantly filled with question marks.
—LOL I almost fell for that.
—I almost believed it just because it came out of his mouth.
—Sure, sure. You’re not an offensive Legendary class, but your stats are higher than one! With 600 Strength and 1,100 HP, you could solo clear 9-star dungeons, huh.
It wasn’t an impossible number. Some of the publicly revealed rankers had stats in the 300–400 range. If people who weren’t even at the very top were already there, then the stats of a player wrapped head to toe in Legendary items were beyond imagination.
Even so, people had a hard time believing it because those numbers were beyond anything they could ever imagine in their entire lives.
—If you think about it, he’s already doing that, isn’t he? If he’s soloing 9-star and 8-star Legendary dungeons, his stats might really be around there.
—If it were anyone else, I’d flame them on the spot, but for a second I actually thought, ’Wow, is that real?’ What is wrong with me?
—Then how high are Fly’s stats? If they’re similar, her Mana alone would be like 1,500, right?
—Top rankers really are built differently.
—Maybe he dumped everything and ignored Agility.
—Ignore it? Is Agility some bad hand of cards you just fold?
He had thrown those numbers out as a joke, but public opinion started drifting in a strange direction.
—I’m suddenly getting jealous.
—Just stop hogging all the good stuff. I hope you fail.
—I can’t even accept his hat. Rigged! It’s rigged!
He was at a loss for words.
’Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut.’
He had turned the stream on hoping to get a bit of a buff from his fans’ prayers, but now he was being cursed out by tens of millions of people. It really felt like even things that should have gone well were now going to go sideways.
“Come on, don’t be like that. Cheer me on a little. That way I can clear 9-star dungeons and go to the continent to rescue our princess, right?”
—Nope, don’t need it. From today on, my lifelong wish is for Kim Buja to go broke. I don’t care about anything else, but I’ll curse your enhancements forever. Go bust!
—Seriously, he’s been slurping all this honey by himself. He needs to be punished.
“You guys are the worst.”
He snorted. Even so, as someone who had been running a channel since day one, he couldn’t help but laugh.
’Honestly, this might be better.’
Instead of praying to some god alone while he spammed enhancements, it might be more fun to blow gold while being cursed out like this.
He relaxed. From the moment he turned the stream on, he had known he wouldn’t be able to enhance every remaining item anyway, so he might as well squeeze as much entertainment out of it as he could.
“Alright, time for a fast-paced gold mukbang.”
He hit Enhance without overthinking it.
’The first one will obviously fail cleanly.’
[Enhancement succeeded.]
“Huh?”
—????
—?????
That was the beginning.
The start of a legend he had never seen coming.
* * *
