Glorious Return(4)

Honestly, it would be foolish to expect too much.

A total of twenty-one chances.

The probability of getting an essence is already extremely low, and even then, you have to beat a one-in-three chance for the color to be green.

But still…

‘If it drops, I won’t have to worry about getting a Hipramagent’s essence later.’

I don’t know the stats or passive of Hipramagent as of yet.

But, I had a hunch that this new combination would outperform whatever the original has to offer.

Arbet’s raw stats are similar to those of a level two essence, and its special stats make it perfect for a tank.

Uumdal’s passive is great too.

‘Yeah, this combination is far better than most Level 2 essence setups out there.’

Maybe it’s because I believed it was possible.

Thump–!

My heart started beating hard.

No matter how much I try not to expect anything, the thought “What if…?” creeps in anyway.

Flash–!

With a flash, the device activated and a synthetic monster spawned in the center, and our first attempt began immediately.

“BETHEL—RAAAAAAAH!!”

Perhaps because the battle began with the dealers having already finished casting, and we surrounded the monster in a perfect encirclement, the battle itself wasn’t too difficult.

Well, that doesn’t mean it was easy either.

‘Well, the first attempt is a dud.’

The fight lasted about 15 minutes, and since I held the front line solidly, there were no casualties.

‘Ugh, my shoulders feel stiff.’

Thanks to my skills, equipment, the priest’s healing spells, and various buffs, I managed to hold out, but it wasn’t easy.

‘If a mix of 4th, 3rd, and 5th-Level monsters is this strong… anything higher would be a nightmare.’*

From now on, I should avoid averaging above 3rd-grade when synthesizing monsters.

But that’s not the main concern right now.

Flash!

Second attempt.

Flash!

Third, fourth, fifth.

Flash!

Six attempts in a row without a break, but unfortunately, no essence dropped.

And then…

‘Please!’

By the seventh failed attempt, I called off the raid.

A gamer’s intuition.

Now wasn’t the time.

As they say, nothing in this world is free.

This world operates on the law of equivalent exchange.

And I haven’t offered up any sacrifices yet.

Yeah, that’s why…

“Let’s put this one on hold and move on to the others.”

“Huh? We’re stopping here? Everyone’s just getting used to the fight.”

“Even if it doesn’t make sense, orders are orders. Commander’s word.”

“Wait, why are you talking like it’s someone else’s call? You’re the commander, Jandel!”

Heh, she was a little too clever for her own good.

I brushed off Raven’s remark with a barbarian-style laugh and headed to the storage area for the mana stones.

Over the past few months, I’d labeled and categorized tens of thousands of man stones.

‘Let’s start with Aynar’s.’

After scanning the stones, I grabbed three barrels full of them and returned.

“Bjorn! Can I be the one to put them in this time?”

“Aynar, you want to do it?”

“It looks fun hearing them clatter when they drop in!”

I had no idea what part of that seemed fun, but I let her do it anyway.

This combo was for her anyway.

“…Huh? For me?”

“Yeah, so make sure you put them in properly. If an essence drops, we’ll store it in a testube and feed it to you as soon as we get out.”

By the way, I had prepared a total of three essence combinations for Aynar, which was more than any other member of the exploration team.

She had changed her class to spearman, which meant she needed to swap out a lot of essences to rebuild her setup from scratch.

‘Statistically, all three combinations won’t drop, but if even one does, it’ll be great. She’ll finally be back in shape.’

I tailored the passives and actives for a spearman, but for stats, I prioritized high Fighting Spirit even if it meant slightly weaker overall stats.

“Here goes!”

Once our battle formation was reset, Aynar enthusiastically tossed the mana stones into the device.

Clunk.

The first device, responsible for stats, received a Level 3 monster stone with Fighting Spirit and combat-related stats.

Clunk.

The second device, which determined passives, got a Level 4 combat support skill—[War Machine].

Clunk.

For the active, I aimed for a dual setup with the level 4 combat buffs, “Unyielding Spirit” and “Nerve Stimulation,” completing the first combination.

In the end, I went with the rank 4 combat buffs Indomitable Soul and Nerve Simulation as the actives, so it ultimately wouldn’t make a difference which one we ended up with in the combination.

Maybe because it was her essence, but Aynar seemed unusually motivated. Instead of running away with her spear, she cheered from a distance.

The first battle took about 25 minutes.

‘The average level only went up by 0.6, but it’s way harder.’

We even had casualties mid-fight, and some nearby machines broke down, forcing us to wait for drones to repair them.

Then, something unbelievable happened.

“Whoa! An essence! Essence!”

An essence dropped on the first try.

And not just any essence—it was blue, matching the top pick, Unyielding Spirit.

‘It just… dropped on the first try…?’

Even I was dumbfounded watching it happen.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a bit betrayed.

‘…Would it have been better if I’d just held out and kept trying for mine?’

If I’d kept going, maybe mine would’ve dropped by now.

The thought kept nagging at me.

“…Should I collect it, then?”

Raven stepped in and sealed the essence in a test tube, and with that we got our first custome essence combo.

Then we waited for the machines to be repaired before starting the second combination.

Clunk.

Since the essence had dropped early and I had more mana stones to spare, I went ahead and reused the one I had picked for the stats.

Clunk.

The passive this time was the Level 4 defense skill [Endurance], which synergized well with [Crouch].

Clunk.

For actives, I went with [Focus Strike], it was a level 5 core essence for my Spear-barbarian build, similar to my shield barbarian’s Gigantification.

“I-it’s out!”

The synthesized monster looked fierce, probably because it was a mix of three large monsters.

However, since its average rank dropped slightly, the battle was relatively easy and we quickly burned through our stock of mana stones.

One, two, three, four…

Then, on the fifteenth attempt—

It’s an essence!”

An essence dropped, but unfortunately, the color was wrong, so we just stored it in a testube.

“Hmm… Well, that’s normal, I guess.”

Still, it was disappointing. I really hoped to get this core skill for her.

Maybe I should go offer more sacrifices?

I thought about it, but changing things suddenly might hurt my credibility as commander.

‘Well, in the end, it’s all probability.’

So I continued using up the remaining tries.

Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen…

With three tries left…

“…Bjoooorrrrn! It’s an essence! The yellow one you mentioned!!”

…What the hell is up with this woman?

***

Aynar had somehow obtained two essences in an instant.

Fortunately, the heavens still had some conscience left, her third combination didn’t drop.

Hah, I even put in extra effort to craft the best combination, especially since the first two turned out so well.

‘Then again, getting three essences from fewer than a hundred monsters was already absurd.’

She’s gonna become a monster when we get back.’

With Verdant Spear, Hippramajent, and now two custom essences from the rank three Speardipper, Aynar would grow significantly stronger just by removing a few of her essences.

“So, are we going back to farming the monster you fought before?”

“No, let’s move on to something else first…”

After that ridiculous luck, I didn’t have the courage to grind my essence combo again. So, I kept summoning other combo synthesized monsters:

Amelia, Misha, Erwin…

Even beyond the custom combinations for those three, I summoned plenty of other combos as well.

The expedition members had requested their own combinations, and the vice-commander had demands, too.

Something about prsenting essences to the royal family or whatever?

Looking at the combos, most seemed suited for knights.

‘…If I hadn’t used up magic stones on the Propulsion System, we could’ve tried way more times.’

Looking back, I do regret spending so many mana stones.

Sure, most of the ones used for the Propulsion System were Level 6 or lower, but…

I had burned through some high Level ones too.

At least we’d gathered plenty of high-grade stones on Library Island, and the stone from the royal family’s stash was mostly high-grade too.

One day, two, three, four…

The raid continued nonstop, day and night, and over time, I realized something.

The drop rate… Isn’t it actually higher than when we fight them normally?

During earlier tests with low-level monsters, essences barely dropped. I thought the odds were terrible.

But maybe I’d just been unlucky back then.

Well, that would explain how Aynar got two essences so easily.

“It’s already been 20 days.”

Twenty days since the factory raid began.

A quick progress check: Amelia, Erwin, and Misha each got an essence. Even Myul Armin, who asked me for a recommendation, got one.

Other expedition members obtained eleven essences from leftover stones, and we gathered seven to tribute to the royal family.

“What, another dud?”

“How many attempts is this now?”

Shockingly, that count hadn’t budged in three days.

“We’ve killed thousands by now. Is the device broken?”

Even the members who’d been raiding with me for the past three days were starting to comment on the anomaly.

‘Now’s the time.’

I had an instinctive sense of perfect timing and stopped the raid. I quickly took out the stones for my combo.

“Aynar.”

“…Yeah?”

Aynar was lounging around chewing jerky when I called him.

“You put the stones in.”

“Oh? Sure, I can do that.”

Without even asking why, Aynar immediately agreed. I made sure to explain carefully which stone went where, and double-checked everything.

‘Yeah, with this much prep, even she can’t mess it up.’

Sure enough, Aynar inserted the stones without making a single mistake.

But…

Eight, nine, ten…

Just because she inserted them correctly didn’t mean the desired result would come out.

Eleven, twelve, thirteen…

As the attempts piled up, my heartbeat quickened.

Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen.

As the saying goes, even a small leak can sink a mighty ship, and in that moment, I was that ship.

Only five tries left.

Blood was rushing to my head, and ideas I’d never normally consider began flooding in.

‘Goblin.’

Yeah, I could use Sven Parav’s intuition.

It only seemed to trigger when danger was imminent.

‘Tie him up somewhere and threaten to smash his skull if the essence doesn’t drop this time.’

That way, he’d miraculously predict the perfect timing, right?

It sounded ridiculous, but also oddly possible.

So I glanced at him—

‘Wait, why’s he like that?’

He was staring back at me.

With an expression like… someone who desperately needed to take a dump.

But then…

“Commander, can we talk for a second?”

When he pulled me aside, what he said was something entirely different.

“…W-we need to leave. Now. I-I’ve got this feeling.”

The goblin’s intuition had kicked in.

“Stronger than ever before.”

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