Chapter 12 Explore
Vincent then quickly looked at his Mana Capacity and confirmed that his 18 units decreased by another 3 units.
[ Mana: 15/20 ]
It means that enhancing a +1 item requires 3 units of mana. It is not that much but Vincent can perhaps get a lot more experience points this time.
This way, he would be able to fill up his experience bar a lot faster.
[ Do you want to Appraise the item? ]
Vincent's experiment wasn't over yet as he decided to appraise the same item.
'Yes.'
After confirming, another screen appeared in front of him with all the information about the shirt.
[ Dirty Wool Shirt ]
[ Quality: Poor
Number of Enhancements: 2/10 𝐟𝙧ee𝔀e𝐛𝓃𝐨𝚟𝑒𝗹.c𝗼𝚖
Durability: 24/24
Description: An outer garment normally worn by commoners. It has a decent ability to absorb moisture.
Remarks: No special properties found. Durability will be upgraded in every enhancement. ]
"So it was just an increase of 2 points in Durability? Hmm… Is it because it's of poor quality and there are no special properties?"
Vincent thought that the item he was enhancing would turn out something incredible if he keeps it up.
However, it seems that the most it could do were to at least improve its durability. 𝙛𝘳𝒆𝒆𝒘e𝗯n𝗼𝘷𝚎𝚕.𝒄૦𝓶
Nevertheless, he at least learned that enhancement can only be done 10 times… or perhaps, this specific item can only be enhanced 10 times.
"Hmm? Wait… If I recall it correctly…" Vincent paused for a moment as he suddenly remembered the first few notifications he received from his system on the first day he transmigrated here.
"That's right, this is only the first stage of the Item Awakening System. Enhancement is only its first sequence. There's probably a second or more…"
If he would make a guess, the Enhancement ability that he has can only enhance the existing properties of the item. It probably can't add other properties or attributes…
"Well, there's also a possibility that Enhancement Stones were the ones capable of adding new attributes or properties."
Vincent muttered to himself as he felt that his guess is close to the truth. Anyway, it's only a matter of time for him to know how this thing really works.
In the meantime, he made sure to check his experience points again.
[ Item Enhancement Lv1 – The user can use their Mana or Enhancement Stones to upgrade the item they are holding ]
[ Enhancement EXP: 715/5000 ]
Vincent previously has 710 experience points before he enhanced the wool shirt. This means that enhancing a +1 item to a +2 will give him 5 points in his experience points.
"Hmm… In exchange for 3 units of mana is 5 experience points, huh. I guess it's not a bad deal."
Vincent muttered to himself.
Though the amount wasn't much, it would still accumulate if he religiously do it every day.
"Alright. Let's enhance one more time." Vincent muttered as he used his Enhancement ability once again.
[ Enhancement Successful. ]
[ Mana: 5/20 ]
"Ugh… So expensive?"
His shirt is now Dirty Wool Shirt +3 and it cost him 10 units of mana to upgrade from +2 to +3.
Thankfully, he still has enough mana to appraise the item again and confirmed that the Durability of his shirt increased from 24 to 29!
Though enhancing got more expensive, the effect is a lot better as well.
As for the experience, it went up by 8 points.
[ Enhancement EXP: 723/5000 ]
After checking all the matters related to his system, he decided to just study his Mana just like how his grandfather told him to.
He first tried to replenish his mana and realized that it was a lot harder than he thought. An hour of meditation only provided him 0.5 units!
'Ugh… I want to experience that Mana Bath again…'
Vincent complained as he decided to just explore what he can do with his mana in the meantime.
Well, now that his mana has increased, he doesn't have a plan to just spend all of this in using Enhancements after all.
He would still like to learn other usages of mana like how his grandfather is using it to hunt for the wild animals.
'Maybe I can ask him to bring me in his next hunt…'
Vincent muttered before he went to meditate again. This time, he's not planning to absorb the Mana in his surroundings.
Instead, he decided to just learn how to control the mana that is currently within his body…
"Do not emit the mana… Revolve it around your body…" Vincent muttered as he repeated Raizen's words during his teachings.
Apparently, he was told that carelessly emitting mana without using a proper technique is just a waste of energy.
Instead, he must first learn how to revolve his mana throughout his body. Once he managed to do this flawlessly, Raizen hinted to him that he'll be able to learn a few more things after all.
Anyway, he learned things a lot faster so he can only hope that his grandfather would advance his teachings as well.
***
After several hours had passed, Raizen has not been able to return yet.
"Did he get into an accident?"
Vincent is aware that his grandfather wouldn't be late for no reason. It's already dark outside and there should be savage beasts lurking in the deeper part of the forest right now.
It means that Raizen can't stay there for too long.
No matter how strong he is, he can't be fighting against Savage Beasts all night long.
Thud! Thud!
Suddenly he heard someone opening the door he quickly confirmed that it was Raizen.
He was about to ask him what happened when he saw his grandfather's clothes were splattered with blood.
"Grandpa, is that blood yours?"
Vincent cautiously asked since he can tell from his grandfather's posture or gait that he was alright.
"Ahh… It's not mine. I went to find a special beast and they only appear during the night so it took me quite some time."
Raizen said as he went to change his clothes. As for the pouch he was carrying, he placed it on the table and Vincent felt something from it…