Chapter 270: Re-encountering the Treasure Chest Monster

"Why are you here!?" Yun Mu questioned the woman in front of her in a very surprised voice.

"Eh?" Guleiya tilted her head in some confusion: "Why can't I be here?"

"Calm down, Miss Yun." At this moment, Lucy patted her on the shoulder: "Look closely, she is not Natavia."

"Looking closely, she really doesn't look much like her. She's become younger—no, should I say she's become cuter? The originally sharper features have all become much smoother."

"Um, could you please not compare my face to someone else's?" Guleiya smiled somewhat helplessly.

"Sorry, I mistook you for someone else just now." After confirming that the young girl in front of her was indeed not the spreader of the Scarlet—Natavia, Yun Mu decisively apologized to her.

"It's fine. In the end, I don't actually know who I am myself." Guleiya waved her hand with a smile, her voice tinged with a hint of bitterness.

"What do you mean?" Yun Mu asked with some curiosity.

"How should I put it..." A look of recollection appeared on Guleiya's face.

Seeming to be organizing her words, after a brief moment of thought, she said: "In my memory, I seem to have always been floating in a body of water, unable to see or hear anything, and even my consciousness was blurry."

"At that time, there seemed to be a 'voice' whispering in my ear, telling me not to sink into sleep just like that."

"It's strange, isn't it? That feeling... I can't put it into words, it's just..."

Guleiya placed her palm against her chest, a look of peace on her face: "I don't know why, but I always felt that voice had a sense of familiarity, making me follow it without even realizing it."

"By the time I came to my senses, I found myself appearing in this small cabin, and the name Guleiya appeared in my mind involuntarily."

"It seems I'm a blacksmith, I think..." Guleiya raised her hand and looked at her palm with some uncertainty.

"Is there any equipment you want to reinforce?" She looked at Yun Mu with a smile, holding her right arm with her left hand, striking a capable pose.

"As long as you have enough Gold Coins, I can reinforce any kind of equipment... probably."

"Ah, oh, um... then let's try reinforcing it." Coming back to her senses, Yun Mu nodded.

Although she still didn't know the background of this young girl, since she was an NPC in the Dungeon, she figured there shouldn't be any problems.

As it stood, she probably wouldn't get any answers from continuing to ask, so she decided to focus her attention on reinforcing her equipment.

【Rift Crocodile Coat (Green) 【800 Gold Coins】】 【Quiet Boots (Green) 【800 Gold Coins】】 【Immoral Notebook (Green) 【800 Gold Coins】】 【Fixed Shadow Instrument Blade (Blue) 【1800 Gold Coins】】 【Painting: Thor (Purple) 【4800 Gold Coins】】 【Frost Queen's Sigh (Orange) 【10000 Gold Coins】】 【Apostle of Joy's Mask (Red) 【36000 Gold Coins】】 【Divine Blood Pendant (Red) 【36000 Gold Coins】】 【Some equipment (omitted)】 【Note: Equipment of Green quality and above requires multiple reinforcements to reach a higher color quality.】

Players can spend more Gold Coins to reinforce equipment to the next tier.】 Good, good, good. At this price, just reinforcing an Orange piece of equipment once would drain her entire fortune.

The reinforcement price for Red quality equipment... it's simply too painful to look at; in any case, she definitely doesn't have the ability to reinforce it right now.

Better to look at the reinforcement prices for lower-quality equipment, everyone.

"14,657 Gold Coins... reserve 10,000 Gold Coins for Lucy to upgrade... no, anyway, there will be more battles later, and besides, I can open chests after clearing the Dungeon."

"In that case, reserve 8,000... no, should it be 7,000 or 6,000?"

To be safe, Yun Mu chose to reserve 7,000 Gold Coins and use the remaining half to reinforce her equipment.

Since that was the case, Yun Mu turned her gaze to the 【Rift Crocodile Coat】, the piece of equipment she had been reinforcing all the way from the moment she first transmigrated.

Heh, only 800 Gold Coins to reinforce it once, a piece of cake.

Let her see how many Gold Coins it takes to reinforce it to Blue quality... Pfft! 2,200 Gold Coins!?

That cuts away nearly half of her budget!

"Re... reinforce it." Resisting the heartache, Yun Mu took off the Rift Crocodile Coat and handed it to Guleiya in front of her.

"Are you looking to reinforce this coat?"

"In that case, please look at these."

Guleiya took out three materials from the room and laid them out one by one in front of Yun Mu.

【1: Earth Dragon Scale (Blue) 【Scales from an Earth Dragon—a subspecies of dragon—possessing extremely powerful toughness and relatively low magic resistance; weight is moderate, defense is astonishing.】】 【2: Yeti Fur (Blue) 【In the northern snowy mountains of the Frost Kingdom live humanoid Monsters covered in white fur, capable of wielding the powers of wind, snow, and frost.】】 【3: Sky Blue Ore (Blue) 【A special ore produced in the mysterious Sky Islands, famous for its sky-like clear blue color after being smelted into ingots; weight is extremely light.】】 This time, there was no need for Lucy to act as the one introducing the materials.

After taking out the materials, Guleiya began to introduce them to Yun Mu in a constant stream.

"This is an Earth Dragon scale; it still has the power of the Earth Element flowing through it. Equipment made from it will surely have quite powerful defense."

"Yeti fur, although its defense is not as good as the Earth Dragon scale, can enhance spell damage and has extremely high resistance to the Frost Element. If you wear it, even a Master-level Frost Mage won't be able to do anything to you!"

"And this last one, Sky Blue Ore... a special ore that can only be produced in the Sky Islands. It is extremely light in weight and provides a certain boost to any spell. Besides that, it can also enhance the Agility attribute, letting you run faster and jump higher. It even comes with a 'Light Feather' effect; no matter how high a place you fall from, you won't take any damage."

"However, the drawbacks are also quite obvious, which is that the defense is not as good as the first two..."

"Defense-specialized, spell-specialized, and agility-specialized, huh?" After listening to Guleiya's explanation, Yun Mu appeared very conflicted.

Generally, in times like this, one should use the method of elimination to choose the answer most suitable for oneself.

In that case, the first one to be eliminated should be option number two, the Yeti Fur.

Because Yun Mu is not lacking in damage, and besides, this thing only reinforces spell skills, making its effect somewhat singular. Furthermore, resistance to the Frost Element only works against specific enemies, and she clearly has no need for that.

Besides that, there is another reason she rejected it, which is... it's too ugly.

We won't mention what the Yeti looks like here, after all, Yun Mu hasn't seen what the Yetis in this world look like.

Just saying, this fur feels a bit rough and doesn't look very soft. And Yetis are humanoid creatures, right? Wearing equipment made from the fur of such creatures... ah, it feels a bit uncomfortable. As expected, forget it.

What remains is a choice between two: should she choose the defense-specialized Earth Dragon Scale or the agility-specialized Sky Blue Ore... "So conflicted."

At times like this, one should analyze in detail the pros and cons of these two sets of equipment, and what roles they each play for her.

The Earth Dragon Scale's powerful defensive ability goes without saying; when facing any attack, defense is a quite useful attribute.

And the Agility attribute represented by the Sky Blue Ore, when put into the Game Panel, should refer to speed and Dodge.

Logically speaking, this is also a quite useful attribute. However, after thinking it over carefully, Yun Mu discovered that she didn't seem to be lacking in these two attributes. Up until now, every time she explored a Dungeon, her speed attribute was far in excess of the enemies'.

However, in turn-based combat, no matter how much higher your speed is than the opponent's, you cannot act an extra turn more than them, so all that extra speed is considered an overflow attribute.

Why should she continue to reinforce an attribute that is already overflowing?

What's more, when she really needs the speed attribute, Yun Mu feels she might as well reinforce the Quiet Boots or the Nun's Foot Wraps.

These two pieces of equipment worn on the feet are the attributes more suitable for agility specialization.

"Mm, decided, let's use the Earth Dragon Scale to reinforce it!"

After making the decision in her heart, Yun Mu immediately said to Guleiya.

"Alright, please wait a moment!"

Hearing Yun Mu's words, Guleiya chuckled.

She put away the other two materials, leaving only the Earth Dragon Scale, then placed the Rift Crocodile Coat on the anvil beside the furnace, and finally placed the Earth Dragon Scale on top of the Rift Crocodile Coat.

"Clang!"

The hammer struck the Earth Dragon scale, emitting an extremely unreasonable sound.

Under Yun Mu's incredulous gaze, the scale and the Rift Crocodile Coat emitted a deep blue light, and then... 【【Rift Crocodile Coat (Green)】→【Earth Dragon Scale Armor (Blue)】】 【Earth Dragon Scale Armor (Blue)】

【Defense +15 / Toughness +5】

【Damage taken from critical hits -8%】

【Magic Resistance +10%】

【Passive Skill: Earth Dragon Shield】

【After not taking damage for 30 seconds, refresh an Earth Element shield with 20 HP. When the shield is generated, the defense provided by the equipment +5.】

【Though called scale armor, it is still in the shape of a coat; it just sounds better this way.

The fine dragon scales are sewn into the inner side of the coat made from Rift Crocodile skin. The power of the Earth Element flows within the dragon scales, capable of protecting the user from harm.】

"Oh ho, not bad!"

Looking at the attribute panel of the Earth Dragon Scale Armor after it had been strengthened, Yun Mu couldn't help but stand up and say.

15 points of defense—the strongest defensive equipment she had seen so far.

And it can also maintain a shield with 20 HP. When the shield is generated, it provides an additional 5 points of defense. Doesn't that mean 20 points of defense plus 20 HP!? These two thousand Gold Coins were not spent in vain!

"Next, let's strengthen this and this together as well!"

Yun Mu took off the Immoral Notebook and the Brass Shield from Lucy and placed them in front of Guleiya, saying this.

Of course, both were to be strengthened directly to Blue quality.

By the way, equipment strengthening only requires choosing advancement materials when advancing in rank.

Usually, as long as the strengthening doesn't reach the point of advancement, one only needs to pay.

【Gold Coin -4400】

【Current balance: 8057】

"Thanks for your patronage~"

Guleiya smiled as she took the 【Immoral Notebook】 and 【Brass Shield】 from Yun Mu's hands, then turned and took six materials for advancing equipment from inside the Blacksmith Shop.

【Immoral Notebook——】【1. Fairy's Aphrodisiac Powder (Blue) 【As members of the Monster race, fairies have human appearances and petite statures, and are capable of cultivating and controlling magic-infused plants for battle. However, few know that their wings have certain indescribable uses; collect the dust falling from those wings, and after inhaling it, you will experience the pleasure of #ascending to heaven#."】】【2. Strange Lock (Blue) 【The original owner of this lock was a nun who sold it to us at a low price. Don't ask what it was originally used to lock; it's better for both of us.】】【3. Confession Letter (Blue) 【This is a tear-stained confession letter. The writer used extremely authentic emotions and simple words to describe the... er, Profane acts she was forced to commit with dozens of women. However, this letter never reached the local Bishops, but was instead intercepted by a deity with a twisted sense of humor.】】【Brass Shield——】【1. Blazing Fire Medal (Blue) 【A mid-tier medal of the Creator Church, representing the eternal Divine Blazing Fire on the surface of the Blazing Sun. Only those who pass the Blazing Sun trial can obtain it.】】【2. Gilded Obsidian (Blue) 【A rare gem buried deep underground, with a hardness comparable to diamond, which can only be mined from scorching magma; it contains the power of magma and the deep Earth core.】】【3. Dwarf Metal Ingot (Blue) 【A rare metal smelted by Dwarves using special craftsmanship and natural volcanoes. The parts injected with Spirituality will trigger a terrifying explosion if rubbed lightly.】】 "Hmm, for these two pieces of equipment, use the Confession Letter as the material for the Immoral Notebook, and use the Gilded Obsidian for the Brass Shield." Without much thought, Yun Mu decisively told Guleiya.

Whether it was the Fairy's Aphrodisiac Powder or that strange lock, using them to strengthen equipment felt a bit weird.

And the Blazing Fire Medal... the description already said it was related to the Creator Church. Although she wasn't sure what would happen if she used it as a strengthening material, Yun Mu excluded it just to be safe.

As for the Dwarf Metal Ingot... there was no special reason, she just felt that explosions were a bit dangerous.

The Brass Shield is a shield; she needs defensive capabilities, not a means of offense.

【【Immoral Notebook (Green)】→【Book of Profanity (Blue)】】 【Spell Strength +10 / Skill Healing Effect +35%】

【Skill: Profane】

【Support / Single Target】

【Range 4】

【User and 【Target】 +10 Desire】

【During this battle: 【Target】 Damage Modifier +20% / Critical Hit +8%】

【"As my believer, this kind of thing is allowed~" —— Goddess of Radiance??? Linfulei.】

【【Brass Shield (Green)】→【Obsidian Great Shield (Blue)】】 【Defense +13 / Toughness +2 / Displacement Resistance +40% / Fire Resistance +20%】

【Passive Skill: Immovable】

【Ranged damage taken -25 points, melee damage -10 points】

【Skill: Obsidian Shield Bash】

【Use the shield to strike the enemy: Damage Modifier +35% / Stun 120% / Burning 80% / Retreat 1】

【A massive Obsidian square shield, shimmering with a faint purple ghostly light under the sunlight.】

(End of chapter)