Return of the Frozen Player

"So?" After a moment of warmth, Skaya asked.

"What do you mean, so?" replied Seo Jun-Ho, confused.

"You called me first. Doesn’t that mean you had something to ask for? You\'ve always been like that."

"Ahem."

Seo Jun-Ho’s face became hot as he recalled a little bit of his snobbish past...

"As expected, you know me well. Yeah, actually, I have a favor to ask of you.”

Seo Jun-Ho didn\'t look back. Skaya nodded lightly, as if she knew it would be the case.

"So what is it this time?"

"The dwarves are making some of my equipment now.”

"Oh, dwarven equipment!" Skaya\'s eyes sparkled. "So?"

"There\'s a weapon that I was inspired by when I was dealing with a fiend last time."

There was only one thing he wanted from her.

"When the dwarves make the equipment, I would like you to put some magic on them."

"Enchant? It’s not impossible. But it\'s a bit of a hassle because it takes a lot of time...” Skaya whined in annoyance.

But in preparation for cases like this, Seo Jun-Ho had prepared a bait.

"If you do me the favor, I\'ll give you this.”

What Seo Jun-Ho took out of his inventory was an old and worn-out booklet.

"…Trash?"

"No. It may look like trash, but it\'s not trash at all."

This was the Lich\'s Magic Book, which he acquired as a reward after defeating the Ice Witch. Skaya\'s eyes widened when she heard the explanation. Even the way she looked at the book changed.

"…A lich? The ones listed as immortal magicians in the monster book?"

Magicians were knowledge-seeking beings, but that was putting it nicely. To put it simply, they were a group of people who were terribly curious. Naturally, the magic book left by an immortal magician lich was bound to look attractive in Skaya’s eyes.

"I read it a little bit, but honestly, I didn\'t know what it was talking about. It\'s not that it wasn’t a tough read, because it was in the imperial language, but it\'s just not my field. I think it will help you to achieve what you want with magic."

pαпdα Йᴏνê|,сòМ "I-I want to see it."

Skaya opened the book. She read the first few pages before quickly becoming immersed in it. At that moment, Seo Jun-Ho snatched the book.

"Ah! Why did you give it to me and take it back?!"

"If you want to read more, you have to work, right?”

"Fine, I\'ll do it.”

The contents of the book must have been quite impressive because she agreed.

"But doesn\'t the book have any bad content? The lich was someone who had experimented on humans."

"Huh? It doesn\'t have anything like that. It’s just a collection of the lich’s magical achievements and enlightenment during its human days, and what it was going to teach when it became human again."

“…”

So the Ice Witch was a lich with a good retirement plan.

Seo Jun-Ho said, pushing forward the magic book again, "Here, take this and let\'s go out and apologize for the break-in."

The dwarves were no fools. There was no way they hadn’t installed a single security device in this large fortress. They probably already knew that Skaya was inside Del Ice. As Seo Jun-Ho took Skaya out of the house, the dwarves gave him a surprised look.

"T-there are more humans."

"Only one went in for sure, but two came out… Do humans do asexual reproduction these days?"

"Is that why the human population is growing like the orcs?”

"That\'s ridiculous..."

Graham, holding a hammer, shook his head and walked forward. His eyes were full of rebukes as he looked at Seo Jun-Ho. He seemed to know that Skaya had entered the city.

"Seo Jun-Ho, I think I need an explanation."

"First of all, I apologize, Graham."

When Skaya took the hint, she also said ‘sorry’ awkwardly. Seo Jun-Ho used honorifics regularly in case of any possible offense.

"This is the magician that I told you about last time, the one who will imbue the magic. But I didn\'t expect her to teleport here like this...”

"Hmm… She must be a high-ranking magician.” Graham wasn\'t that knowledgeable about magic, but he knew that Teleport was high-ranking magic. "You know that the city of dwarves must be kept as an absolute secret."

"Of course. She is tight-lipped, so you won\'t have to worry."

"I won\'t reveal the location of the city of dwarves to anyone else," Skaya said, gathering her magic power.

It was a magician’s oath. If broken, the magic of the pledger would disappear like a handful of sand crumbling. Graham seemed to be aware of it, and he wore a bitter expression.

"If it\'s a magician\'s oath... I have no choice but to believe it."

He nodded and ordered another dwarf, "Drojan! Bring me that bracelet."

After a while, the bracelet Seo Jun-Ho had requested arrived in front of him. It was a customized bracelet that fit his wrist perfectly.

"Jun-Ho, could this be…”

"Yes, it\'s made of mithril, so it conducts magic power well."

This was some of the mithril he had obtained from the door of the Seoul History Museum. That mithril had been used to make the White Armor, but more dragon bone had been used in the armor than expected, so a considerable amount of mithril was left over. All the remaining mithril was handed over to the dwarves this time.

"This is really amazing. Whatever kind of magic you put on it, its effect is going to be really great.”

Skaya looked and admired the bracelet. Usually, if metal was processed and transformed into a form, the natural properties of the metal would be somewhat reduced. But this time, the craftsman was none other than a dwarf. As a race considered to have the best dexterity in the world, there was no need to worry about such things.

"So what magic do you want to put in here?”

"That\'s..."

Seo Jun-Ho whispered in her ear.

Then, she looked back at him with her eyes wide open. "What? Three pieces of magic?"

"Can\'t I?"

"…No, I was surprised because it seems like it’ll work.” She smiled at Seo Jun-Ho. "You’re still good at using your head."

"How long will it take?”

"You know what kind of magic you asked for, right? It’ll take at least a month."

It was such hard work that even an archmage like Skaya had to work for a month. She already looked tired, but what could Seo Jun-Ho do?

‘A craftsman and a magician are meant to work together.’

The more they worked together, the more they would create. It was an immutable truth that would never change despite the passing of time.

***

Skaya remained to ask dwarves about the fine adjustments. The Frost Queen stared blankly at the floor in the room on her own.

"…Contractor, it is over for me now,” the Frost Queen spoke in a voice as if she had lost half her soul.

The dignified appearance she had when Seo Jun-Ho first met her was nowhere to be found—just where did the Frost Queen of that time go?

"Huu, if you listen to me obediently, I\'ll erase the magic later.”

"…Really? Will you be able to erase her magic?"

"I can just use Watchguard of Darkness to burn away the magic itself.”

"Haa, that is good to hear. For the first time, I am glad that you are my contractor."

Seo Jun-Ho suddenly didn\'t want to do it. At that time, the message that Seo Jun-Ho had been waiting for came up.

[The Administrator’s Store has opened.]

[You can request admission through the community window.]

And the next moment, his location changed even before he made the request.

"Come on in."

He found himself at a store that gave off a sense of hospitality, warmer than one would\'ve imagined. At the counter, Reiji propped her chin with her hands with an annoyed expression.

"...Uh, I definitely didn\'t ask for admission, right?"

"Yeah, I called you over." She moved her finger. "I told you to gather the points, didn\'t I? Did you bring it? One, two, three... You\'ve managed to collect eight."

"Yes, I collected 800,000 PP exactly."

"I know. I took the trouble to write an announcement to explain the so-called bug, so if you failed to collect it all, you would have already died at my hands.”

“…”

Would she really do something as troublesome as that? Seo Jun-Ho doubted it.

Seo Jun-Ho looked around and asked, "So, what are you trying to sell that you asked me to collect 800,000 PP?”

Reiji opened her eyes wide at the question as if wondering why he was asking her such a question.

"Why are you asking me such a question?"

Geez, her mouth and expression were consistent with each other.

"Uh... Were you not asking me to collect 800,000 PP because you were going to recommend something to me?"

"Don\'t get me wrong. I\'m the Administrator of the 2nd floor. I’m very fair. I won’t give anyone an advantage because I want to retire early. I’d get in big trouble if my superiors heard that."

‘Was I wrong?’

Seo Jun-Ho was certain he was told to collect 800,000 PP because she wanted to recommend something to him. Seo Jun-Ho shut his mouth and looked around. Fortunately, the store wasn\'t that big, so the items on display could be seen.

"But is it okay for the store to be this small when there are millions of players?”

"Don\'t worry. Every store has different items on display."

“Won’t there be someone on the losing end, then?”

"It doesn\'t matter because what’s mostly displayed is personalized for different individuals.”

It seemed she was doing her work as a real Administrator.

Seo Jun-Ho picked up some weapons and armor in front of him and frowned.

"Huh...?"

He couldn’t inspect the item. When he looked back at Reiji, she smiled. "You can\'t inspect the item, can you?”

"No..."

"That\'s how it is here. You gotta need to trust your eyes and a little bit of luck."

Seo Jun-Ho wondered why she asked him to collect 800,000 PP in the first place if it was going to be like this.

"There’s no time limit for staying in the store, right?"

"If I get too annoyed, I\'d like to kick you out, but... Unfortunately, there isn\'t."

Then, it was a relief. Seo Jun-Ho began to check the equipment meticulously.

\'The minimum grade of these pieces of equipment is Rare, at the least. They’re definitely good, but...’

They weren’t that attractive to Seo Jun-Ho since the dwarves were already making his equipment.

\'And I can also get as many weapons like these as I want in Frontier.’

He heard that the Administrator\'s store also sold items that were hard to find outside. Yes, for example, things like the ‘elixir’ that Kim Woo-Joong had bought from here.

"Do you perhaps have elixirs here?"

"It\'s something that even my store only sells maybe once every five years. And the allocation is random, so you also have to be lucky. And this is the only leading question I’ll allow. I won\'t cut you slack next time."

Maybe because she was the Administrator, but she was quick-witted. If she didn’t have an elixir, he had to look for similar concoctions or potions. He was sure the store at least had that much.

‘Is it this way?’

Seo Jun-Ho moved toward the wall with a fragrant smell. There were more than a dozen kinds of potions and concoctions. Among them, there was one that caught Seo Jun Ho\'s attention. It was a white ginseng that gave off a pure scent.

‘This is it…’

After having consumed hundreds of kinds of potions, his nose reacted to this. The scent was similar to the scent created only by a potion of the highest quality. The price was 300,000 points. Seo Jun-Ho tried to buy it without hesitation.

"They say that the scent of the Hundred Years Snowy Root is excellent. But to be honest, its effect is minimal at best. Even the ginseng diggers who have been making potions all their lives get confused by its scent," Reiji mentioned.

“...?”

When Seo Jun-Ho glanced back at Reiji, she casually turned over the newspaper and murmured, “These days, newspapers have all kinds of lame information. Who reads this?"

“...”

Was she perhaps helping him? Seo Jun-Ho immediately picked up the red medicine bottle next to him.

"Solution of Flasia. It\'s a concoction made of flasia flowers that bloom every 300 years, so it\'s effective, but there\'s one serious side effect. Your whole body will smell really good. Those who drink it will never be able to do a surprise attack or hide for the rest of their lives. Wow, that\'s some useless information.”

“...”

Seo Jun-Ho was certain. She was pretending to be reading a newspaper, but she was actually giving him \'information\' about the items. Seo Jun-Ho lowered his head and managed to stop his laughter from bursting out..

‘What? A fair Floor Administrator? She won’t give anyone an advantage just because she wants to retire early?’

She was doing it well; no, she was a real pro. Was Seo Jun-Ho unhappy about it?

‘Not at all…’

Rather, he was very thankful.