Upgrading [Minor Strength Boost] to [Basic Strength Boost] hurt more than expected. Percy lost control of his body and was forced to join the coachman on the carriage. He writhed in pain for what felt like an eternity as his muscles grew firmer. His physique expanded, and his shoulder widened, pushing Percy closer to the appearance of the Glacia Knights.

The afternoon sun was descending and the densely-grown moon trees shrouded the last rays of sunlight.

That was so much worse than I expected.

Percy groaned and looked up only to see the coachman looking at him worriedly.

“Are you fine? You looked like you were about to die. Or like a Mind Demon was about to possess you,” He asked while Ulfhar and Knight Liam walked up to the carriage.

“What the hell did you do, kiddo? You look like you’re wearing your little sister’s shirt,” The Glacia Knight Captain asked while retrieving a set of clothes from his storage. He threw it onto the carriage and waved dismissively when he caught Percy’s confused expression, “Keep them. They’re not new but will last you a while.”

Percy looked down at his body and squinted his eyes. His chest was broader than before and pressed tightly against his hemp shirt. The hemp shirt had been torn and ripped in multiple places, but it was still good to wear. But not any longer. His shirt was too tight around his chest and arms, which stretched the material to its limits. Percy didn’t try it, but flexing his muscles would tear his clothes apart. He didn’t have a second set of clothes and would have to run around with his bare chest.

Running around with a bare chest sounds nice until you meet the nobles and commonbirth Egos with the highest probability of becoming the kingdom’s Imperials.

He chuckled, imagining what would happen if he reached the Wintermoon estate half-naked. Would they throw him out?

“Thank you,” Percy accepted Ulfhar’s clothes and changed quickly.

His muscles were still sore, but he could move painlessly.

“That’s not too bad either,” Percy mumbled with a wolfish grin when he noticed the Glacia Knights’ flabbergasted stares.

It wasn’t anything new for them to see the bare chests of other men, but the Glacia Knights had known Percy for a few weeks. Not even in their wildest dreams would they have expected Percy to have a physique like that. The Glacia Knight Captain and Knight Liam doubted that as well.

“You…cannot only strengthen yourself with your Ego, can you?” Knight Liam asked after studying Percy silently.

Percy changed his clothes while affirming Liam’s suspicion, “I can strengthen my property as well.”

He unsheathed the Silvron Sword and showed it to the old knight while using [Consume] on Prosperity.

Tempered Silvron Sword

Excellent Quality

5355 Prosperity

[Sharpness], [Mana Slash], [Frostblade], [Fiery Blade]

Dozens of silverish-golden threads shimmered brightly and coated the Tempered Silvron Sword, but only one of the enchantments glowed vibrantly. He felt the resistance to the other runic enchantments and nodded slowly.

The Silvron Sword should be able to endure two runic enchantments. The quality and material are both great. [Sharpness] is always useful, but the other runic enchantments are a little expensive.

He nodded slowly and used some of his remaining Prosperity on the Tempered Silvron Sword.

[Tempered Silvron Sword’s blade has been enhanced. 15,000 Prosperity has been deducted.]

[The blade has reached its limit. [Sharpness] is overflowing with Prosperity.

[Sharpness] will be interwoven into the essence of the Tempered Silvron Sword.]

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

The coachman squealed in surprise when streaks of vibrant ocean-blue mana surfaced on the Silvron Sword. The first streak surprised everyone watching the process, but when the ocean-blue mana etched the eighth and final line into the blade, everyone stared at the weapon in shock and terror.

Only Percy looked at his new Artifact with a mix of confusion and annoyance.

Why was this enchantment so expensive? Even the [Sharpness] enchantment on the Gnoll Blade was A LOT cheaper. This is more than ten times the Prosperity I paid for the Gnoll Blade!

Percy grit his teeth and tried hard not to show his surprise and displeasure.

[Sharpness] was the cheapest enchantment. How expensive will [Mana Slash] and the other runic enchantments be? No wait! Will all runic enchantments be this expensive now?

He was angry, but his rationality dispersed the frustration ravaging through his body quickly. The runic enchantment on the Silvron Sword had been far more expensive than the runic enchantment on the Gnoll Blade and every other Artifact together, but there was a major difference. Unlike [Sharpness] on the Gnoll Blade, the enchantment on the Tempered Silvron Sword felt stronger. It was almost like [Sharpness] on the Silvron Sword was more potent and far stronger.

Percy retrieved the Gnoll Blade for a moment and activated the [Sharpness] enchantments on both Gnoll Blade and Tempered Silvron Sword simultaneously.

It costs more mana, but the effect is more prominent as well.

Even if the enchantments were the same, the gap in material and quality impacted the runic enchantments’ potency. But that would also mean that the same runic enchantments used on different materials would affect the efficiency and potency of all Artifacts, not only those he’d enchanted with his Ego.

[Sharpness] on the Tempered Silvron Sword feels tens of times stronger than the Gnoll Blade. That explains everything.

Percy looked at the Glacia Knights’ plated armor and grinned.

That also means [Guard] and [Reinforce] on their armor would be far more expensive than on the leather forearm guards and chestplate. BUT it will also be far more effective and protect them from much more danger than my Artifacts would have…with the same runic enchantments.

“Did you just add a runic enchantment to the Silvron Sword?” Ulfhar asked rhetorically while Melissa emerged from the carriage to also look at the commotion. Her eyes narrowed when she noticed everyone’s expression and where their eyes lingered.

Melissa approached Percy and looked at the Silvron Sword. Her eyebrow rose, and she stepped closer to touch the blade. Her fingers trailed across the runic enchantments, and her eyes lit up.

“[Sharpness]. The rune is not perfect, but it should contain enough power to be used in perfect sync with the Silvron Sword. A little bit more and the Silvron Sword would be strained with every use of the runic enchantment.”

Melissa looked at Percy and studied him again, “Can you repeat the process?”

She looked at him with more intensity than ever. It was almost like Melissa Reeze looked at the real Percy for the first time.

“I applied the [Sharpness] enchantment to the Gnoll Blade.” He nodded.

Melissa swallowed hard, the corner of her lips curling upward. Her mind rattled as she retrieved another Tempered Silvron Sword from her storage ring.

“Can you enchant my blade if I give it to you?”

Some Glacia Knights exclaimed softly, realizing what Lady Reeze was doing. They looked at their Sword Artifacts and winced. After the fight with the Archyeas and constantly using it for a few weeks, repetitively straining their weapons with the runic enchantments, their Artifacts sustained damage in multiple spots.

“I don’t think it will work, your grace,” Percy mumbled but gave in under Melissa’s intense stare, “But we can try. It needs to be in my possession.”

“That is a simple matter. Hereby, I gift you this Tempered Silvron Sword. It’s yours!” Melissa declared, repeating similar words that she and the Glacia Knights usually used to surrender their corpses to Percy. But Percy shook his head.

“There is no interface. I don’t think it works because you expect me to give you the Sword back once I enchanted it. My Ego doesn’t work like that.”

That is interesting to know, though. For my Ego to work, I’d probably have to purchase the weapons, enchant them, and sell them properly.

The circumstances were unfortunate since they were in the middle of a forest rather than a city where Percy could purchase some weapons to enchant before selling them to Melissa. Solving his debt to the Glacia Knight Order would also be solved easily. But they were about to reach the Wintermoon estate and wouldn’t travel to a nearby city anytime soon.

Melissa clicked her tongue, but her grimace turned into a smile after a few seconds.

“In that case, I want to buy this sword. I give you another one, unenchanted in return. You can keep it and do whatever you want with the unenchanted sword. If you’re willing to sell it in the future, once it is an Artifact, come to Ulfhar or me, and we will purchase it. The Reeze Dukedom will give you a good price. We can cover your debt to the Glacia Knight Order easily that way, too.”

A moment later, Melissa retrieved something else from her storage ring. It was a small silverish glimmering card. A Monster Card.

“You know what that is?” Melissa asked rhetorically.

Percy nodded slowly. That was the Monster Card they had acquired in the Moonlight Forest. It was the only Monster Card that had dropped after killing countless monsters.

The Monster Card of a Blueflame Hawk.

“I’m willing to give you this in exchange for the Sword Artifact!”

Percy’s eyes bulged in shock when he realized what exactly Melissa said.

Did someone hit her too hard on the head?!