Chapter 143: Overclocking (2)
Chapter 143. Overclocking (2)
Two streams of magic raced like sports cars on a strong and wide magic circuit. The magic completed a full lap around the magic circuit 24 times per second. An average person would have been unable to handle the heat and would have received a large blow to their brain. However, the calm Seo Jun-Ho was able to maintain his temperature at 37 degrees.
"Hmm, does it last about an hour and a half now? Good," commented Seo Jun-Ho.
The stabilization was at 63%. It meant that 63% of the magic running inside his body was frost energy.
"It's like a coolant," observed the Frost Queen.
"I feel like a human computer."
He could feel great strength in his body.
'Rather, I think I'm stronger than before I received the Curse of Bitter Cold.'
In fact, it was inevitable. He was strengthening his body with much more magic and for far longer than when using Booster.
"It seems that you are done with everything you had to do in Gilleon," remarked the Frost Queen.
"Right, we need to go to the Canal Mountains now."
The Curse of Bitter Cold would be lifted in about three more days. After that, there wouldn't be any reason for him to be afraid of fiends.
"Skaya... Are you going to call her over to Teleport?"
"No." Seo Jun-Ho shook his head. "I've rested for far too long thanks to the Curse of Bitter Cold and Overclocking. I'm going to hunt monsters for a few days and make sure I'm adjusted to the feeling of real battle."
The battle in Seoul was almost a month ago. His senses had already been raised to their peak, so it was time to make sure that his body had adjusted to its newfound strength.
"Let's stop by the Adventurer's Guild on the way and take a Quest since we can complete it in another castle."[1]
It was about time that he brought his time in Gilleon to a close.
"I will definitely catch the man who hurt Young Master Simus."
"I believe you. I pray that your future will be full of blessings."
Seo Jun-Ho greeted Baron Vashti's family and stopped by one more place just before leaving Gilleon.
"Allow me to check your Player credentials for a moment."
He was obviously very famous around here, but the staff member still thoroughly confirmed his identity. Only after confirming the identification card in many ways and ensuring that it wasn't forged did the employee smile.
"Identification has been completed. Here is the item that arrived for Player Seo Jun-Ho."
A large carrier bag was placed on the desk that would suit anyone traveling abroad. It was obvious what was in it.
"Can I also send a reply from here?"
"Of course..."
The staff member held out a pen and paper for a letter. Seo Jun-Ho wrote down and expressed his gratitude with utmost sincerity and explicitly said that he would use it well.
'I wonder what it'll look like...'
Kwon Noya and Kwon Palmo—the armor that the two had worked on together to make had finally arrived. Seo Jun-Ho returned to Dewdrop Inn and placed the suitcase on the bed.
Click, click.
When the lock was released, the carrier split in four directions, revealing a belt.
"Contractor, there's only one belt."
"That's right. Last time, the base equipment was definitely the top of the armor..."
This meant that...
"...They must have achieved great things with the Spread armor system," said Seo Jun-Ho.
Who would dare to imagine that this small belt would be the armor which would cover his whole body?
"But the color is white," observed the Frost Queen.
"Hmm, I guess it must have been hard to paint black because of mithril's characteristics."
Mithril had the disposition to maintain its original form and it was the same with its color. There was no way to make a black-colored armor out of mithril unless you obtained black mithril.
"It seems the title of the next video will be the White Knight."
"Can't you stop saying knight this, knight that? It's cringey."
Seo Jun-Ho picked up the instruction manual in the carrier.
"Hmm? Magic recognition along with... blood recognition?"
What kind of artifact did those two make? The Black Armor would automatically unfold when it was injected with magic and would wrap around the person's entire body. The only drawback was that if you lost consciousness, the armor would decouple. But this time, the armor they made solved the shortcomings.
'The moment it recognizes the user's blood, the armor deploys...'
It meant that even if he lost consciousness during the battle, the armor would remain tightly wrapped around his body.
- Try not to break it because it's a pain to work on. For your information, the name of the armor is White Armor.
- Please come down anytime it breaks. I'll fix it for you.
Why was it that the grandchild was so different from the grandfather?
"Contractor, it seems that those two have bad naming sense."
"...Says the one who came up with Salmon in the Mountains."
"What did you just say? I heard something about a salmon?"
"I said I wanted to eat salmon salad," Seo Jun-Ho responded deftly and equipped the belt.
Then, he poured some magic into it.
Crrrrrrrr.
The belt quickly expanded up and down, becoming a full-length armor. He was so curious about how these huge metals were hidden in the small belt that he wanted to try taking it apart.
"What do you think?"
When Seo Jun-Ho asked, the Frost Queen looked blankly at him and nodded, "Well... It is not bad. My standards are a little high, but... Yes, it is not bad."
"...That's cool."
Walking in front of the mirror, he looked at his reflection. If the Black Armor was the image of a rather heavy knight, the White Armor depicted a futuristic sleek suit.
"It's lighter, but it must be sturdier, right?" Seo Jun-Ho wondered.
"Check the information. Quickly."
At her urging, Seo Jun-Ho nodded.
"Item identification."
[White Armor]
Grade: Unique
Stamina +30
*Lightweight: This armor has lightweight magic.
*Confusion: This armor blocks tracking skills below grade B against the wearer.
*Battle-Friendly Design: This armor is designed to facilitate deflection of the opponent's attacks.
Equip Requirement: Level 60, Stamina 100, Strength 100 or higher.
"..."
It was a hundred times better than his Black Armor. This armor was lighter and sturdier. In addition, it was also easier to avoid enemy attacks with this.
'The materials are even mithril and dragon bones.'
Both were materials that facilitated better magic flow. In other words, the slight loss of magic that inevitably occurred when you wore armor was close to zero with this armor.
"...When I find some herbs that are good for health, I'll have to go down and give them some."
Kwon Noya, Kwon Palmo, Shim Deok-Gu, Cha Si-Eun. He should take some proper souvenirs with him and give them to the people he was thankful to.
'Come to think of it, I didn't see Secretary Cha last time.'
Did she go on a business trip? He recalled the secretary's office and felt lonely when he remembered her empty seat.
'Well, maybe I'll go down and ask next time.'
Seo Jun-Ho checked out from both rooms and left Gilleon through the northern gate. He didn't bother to say goodbye to the alchemist, Shasha, the gambling house, loan shark, Ply, and the Hakan couple. If he had business here, he could easily come back through Skaya.
Riding on a wooden horse and looking at the distant castle of Gilleon, the Frost Queen spoke, "I think I have grown attached to this place during our time here." The Frost Queen continued. "I'm going to miss the Dewdrop Inn where I rested."
"Take a good look now. You'll miss it even more when we camp out at night. And how about walking on your own?"
"I was raised as a delicate child."
"My mom and dad raised me as a delicate child, too."
"...Then, when I grow up a little bit more..."
The dollhouse she was using had become unusable when her body grew. She was so depressed because she only managed to use it for a few days. The Frost Queen's body had also become too big for her to use tissues as blankets, so Seo Jun-Ho simply bought a children's sleeping bag for her.
"Goodbye, Gilleon..."
The Frost Queen waved at the castle.
***
"Say it again."
"...The target is out of the castle."
"One more time..."
"Seo Jun-Ho came out to the field through the northern gate."
"Finally..."
A fiend got up.
"What a disgusting fellow he is."
He was one of the four fiends, waiting near Gilleon at the behest of Nazad Hallow. They had been waiting for Seo Jun-Ho for nearly a month and a half. However, he never left the castle since hunting thunder bears.
'No, there was just that one time, but...'
At that time, it hadn't been optimal to hunt him down. It was because he came out through the eastern gate with hundreds of Adventurers and Players for the kobold hunting competition. The four decided not to overdo it and waited for the moment when he left the castle on his own.
'I was on high alert since I didn't know which of the other three doors he would come out from...'
However, the punk did not come out at all. Stuck in an inn in Gilleon, he seemed to have no intention of coming out and stopping whatever he was doing. The other fiends were getting exhausted and they started to wonder about what they were doing here.
Finally, when the boredom was just about to dominate their whole bodies, Seo Jun-Ho finally came out to the open field today through the northern gate.
"What about Skaya Killiland? Three weeks ago, Seo Jun-Ho escorted her to Gilleon."
He didn't think that Skaya and Seo Jun-Ho were close, but just in case.
"No problem."
"I checked Skaya's community account... She's in the Oolong Forest, east of the Empire."
"That's far..."
Of course, he knew that this distance meant nothing to an archmage. But it did not matter. Before the news could reach her, they just had to kill Seo Jun-Ho and disappear.
"We have waited long enough. Let's not delay any further and start the hunt right away," said Gouf, a fiend who had been Kal Signer's deputy.
The rest of the fiends began to disperse in the formation they had agreed with in advance. Watching them leave, Gouf's eyes filled with desire for revenge.
"It's finally time to hunt..."
It was Kim Woo-Joong who killed Kal Signer, but Gouf was miles away from being able to hunt him. As such, he turned his blade of revenge to Seo Jun-Ho.
***
"It's finally time to hunt," Seo Jun-Ho said confidently. "How long has it been since the blood kobold lord that I've hunted fiends?"
Surprisingly, what stood in his way were none other than whip wolves.
"Oh, that's too bad. I didn't get the Whip Wolf quest."
"Woof! Woof!"
The eight whip wolves surrounding him lowered themselves and prepared to charge.
'Come to think of it, the first monster I hunted here in Frontier was a Whip Wolf.'
It felt as if they were connected by fate. Seo Jun-Ho smiled faintly and grabbed the flying tail of a whip wolf. Then, he turned his arm around and wrapped the whip over it before pulling the whip wolf with a tug.
"Hmm..."
He realized that his strength had become much weaker than before without using Booster and Overclocking. The whimpering whip wolf that had been pulled over was resisting his strength.
'Is my strength only around this much?'
After collecting the data he needed, he reeled back and quickly avoided the flying whip wolf's tail coming toward him.
'My speed is also only about this much now... It's slow.'
After checking his strength and speed, he didn't particularly check on anything else.
Woooong!
A single line of magic circulated through Seo Jun-Ho's magic circuit.
'When I circulate just one line of magic, I can keep it at 51% for 40 minutes.'
Of course, the output would be weaker than that of circulating two lines. However, he could save so much more magic with just one line.
'Of course...'
The magic consumption was greater than when using Booster since he now had a much larger magic circuit.
"Woof! Whoof!"
When Seo Jun-Ho lightly pulled the arm that had grabbed its tail, the whip wolf couldn't withstand his strength at all and flew over to him almost immediately. Dodging the other tails that attacked him at the same time, he threw a right hook.
Crunch!
His fist forcefully smashed the face of the whip wolf he had reeled in, Seo Jun-Ho threw it aside before taking out Cruel Executioner.
"Something's a bit off for a while now."
"It shouldn't be because of these whip wolves," Seo Jun-Ho muttered while looking at the sky filled with dark clouds.