Chapter 87: Homecoming (1)
A Gate message appeared before Seo Junho's eyes.
"...This isn't all, is it?" He squinted suspiciously at the message. There was another one below it.
The rank increased! He clenched his fists. Not long ago, at the Cave of Trials, Hero's Mind had become S-rank and Keen Intuition had become A-rank, and now, Weapon Mastery was S-rank.
"Man... That was so worth it." The reward made up for the three months he'd spent in the Gate. Those hard, tedious times were now only memories.
Limit Breaker's effect is useful too. He received it for overcoming the limits of a player, and it increased a random stat by 1 every time he leveled up.
"Hehe..." Seo Junho chuckled like an old man as he looked at his status window. The Frost Queen read over his shoulder and gave him a look of disgust when he started to laugh.
"Your laugh is disturbing." She flew back.
"Sorry, I can't control it. Any player would react the same way." That was how great his status window was.
He was barely level 34, but all of his stats were over 100. He could compete with low rankers.
"The numbers are so beautiful." It reminded him of the times he'd play games at PC cafes when he was a student. It had been so satisfying to see his game character's stats increase one by one.
"Honestly, I would've been proud even if these were just my character's stats..." But they were his own. How could he not be happy?
"...I understand, so go check the Gate's rewards."
"Oh, it was a key or something, right?" He reached into his inventory and pulled it out. "An Armory Key..."
"The armory is in the basement of the castle." She quickly checked the time. There were only 58 minutes left until the Gate would close.
"I should hurry." Seo Junho stood up and followed the Frost Queen to the basement. They arrived before a large door. It creaked as he opened it with his key. Hundreds of weapons then filled his vision.
"...Frost, there's no limit to how many I can take, right?"
"If memory serves, there is not."
"Then...!" His mouth spread into a wide grin.
"Ah." His face fell. The Frost Queen cackled at the sight.
"Gray, was it? That Administrator must be watching over you still."
"I'm not into men," he grumbled. Seo Junho slowly turned back toward the armory. The Winter Castle truly was a sacred ground for knights. The armory was full of high-quality weapons.
"There isn't a single one that isn't up to par."
He walked around the armory for 40 minutes, lost in thought. The best weapon grade is Unique. As long as I choose one of those, it doesn't actually matter which one it is.
First, he ruled out a sword. Black Dragon Fang was already a Unique weapon, and there wouldn't be a sword better than it.
"The one I prefer..." Before him were a spear and an axe. They were both Unique-grade, so it all came down to a matter of preference. "The spear is nice because it lets me maintain a distance from the opponent, but the axe can be used unrestricted..." He'd also enjoyed using the spear when he was Specter. As he pondered, the Frost Queen looked around the armory on her own.
"Why are you thinking so hard? You can simply choose a weapon that combines their merits."
"A weapon that combines... Ah!" Realizing something, Seo Junho whipped around to the corner of the armory. A long halberd was hung on the wall. "I want both, so that's not bad either."
The halberd was also called a barb spear or an axe-spear. The spear tip was combined with an axe blade, so it contained the best parts of each weapon. It was hard for beginners to use, but he was no beginner.
"Thanks for the tip." The Frost Queen nodded. Seo Junho spun the halberd in his hands a few times. It shone with an inky light. The shaft was thick, and a sharp spearhead was attached at the tip, with a heavy axe blade on the side.
"The length and weight are pretty good."
The cool metal felt good in his hands. He made up his mind when he saw the item info.
"Wow! Blood Pact!" He hadn't even expected it. Players usually called Blood Pact the final boss of weapon effects.
Seo Junho nodded vigorously.
"Of course." The magic wavered as it teleported him outside of the armory. He was grinning like a child.
"Is the weapon that great?" the Frost Queen asked.
"What do you think? The Blood Pact effect is super OP." It would be extremely useful against the majority of his opponents. He'd be able to keep fighting them without losing any stamina.
"Well, as long as you like it. We should hurry and be on our way."
"Right." Seo Junho checked the time and started to sprint down the hall. There were only ten minutes left until the Gate would collapse. Considering the time it would take to go back, he was cutting it short.
"At least we were not too late."
"Yeah... huh?"
He made it to the front of the Gate just in time, but something caught his eye. A big portrait was hung on the wall of the hall.
"Was that always there? I didn't even notice when I was fighting Kis." He reached out and touched the painting. The portrait contained a beautiful woman who sat on a chair with her legs crossed.
"Wow... She's really pretty..." She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. She wore a blue dress, and her silky, silver hair reached the floor. She held a white scepter in her pale hand, indicating that she was a queen. Her eyes looked down in a prideful stare. Even though it was just a painting, she let out an aloof, charismatic air that made her feel unapproachable.
"Looking at her clothes, she's probably a queen... Huh? Wait a second." He belatedly realized who it was. Seo Junho slowly shook his head as he looked between the queen in the portrait and the little Frost Queen. "N-no way... That's not you, is it?"
"Hmph, it is." She turned around. Seeing how her long ears were red, she felt shy.
"Can you take off that weird visor thing just once?"
"No! Stop saying useless things and just get out!"
He couldn't win against her pestering, so he stepped out of the Gate.
* * *
Cha Si-eun tapped her fingers nervously against her desk. It was the latest habit she'd developed.
It had already been three months since her boss, Seo Junho, had left for one of the Three Uncleared Gates in the world. Even with the Gates' time differences accounted for, no one had ever stayed inside one for three months.
"Haa..."She let out another sigh as she read over the news articles.
[Player Seo Junho breaks the Guinness World Record for longest time spent in a Gate.]
[Will the Three Uncleared Gates remain untouched forever?!]
[Korea's Player Association President Shim Deokgu: "The Gate conquest isn't over yet."]
The Association's atmosphere wasn't great these days. They were being harassed by netizens that accused them of lying about sending Seo Junho to the Winter Castle to boost his reputation.
Why aren't you coming out...? She gloomily closed the articles. Funnily enough, she had a lot of time on her hands now.
People are so funny. As Seo Junho's conquest dragged on, the sponsorship proposals and personal commission requests had stopped coming in. She hated how they were all assuming that he'd failed.
"Why do players climb the Floors for people like this...?" She couldn't understand. They worked hard to clear Gates and climb Floors for these selfish people, but no one ever recognized their efforts.
At that moment, her Vita rang with a message notification.
"Ah." She opened it as quick as lightning.
[Sender: Pegasus]
☗☗Enter the best✩game☗to a world of imagination$$
Register now☜☜for a free 1-month coupon#
Come into the [email protected]@of swords and magic☜☜
"Ugh!" Cha Si-eun angrily shut off the message. She laid down on her desk, sulking. I never get a message from him, and all I ever get is spam... She wondered if she should change her phone number.
Her Vita rang with another message.
"Geez..." She wrinkled her nose and unenthusiastically tapped on her Vita, still lying down.
Crash! The other people in the secretary office stared at her as her chair fell over. But she wasn't paying attention. With wide eyes, she reread the message.
[Sender: Seo Junho]
- hai secretary cha~ please send me a teleporter.
The contents were a bit strange, but he'd finally messaged her.
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