Ranker’s Return

‘Glacier, glacier.’

Hyeonu skillfully searched the community sites. He searched for the glacier, and there were quite a few related posts.

[North Glacier Experience]

[Unravel the Story of the North Glacier]

[Clearing the North Glacier area.]

[Reporting on the Actual Situation of the North Glacier.]

The thing Hyeonu needed was a lot of information. Accuracy? There was no need for it. He had a map anyway. The important thing was to gain extensive knowledge of the glacial zone.

‘I have to look at the person who wrote it.’

Hyeonu didn’t read every post. It was a waste of time. So he filtered them according to a reasonable set of standards before reading them.

‘Is there ‘Ket’?’

If ‘Ket’ wasn’t present, it would be a disappointing name. However, there was an article from Pioneer’s leader, the eccentric Ket. Now he wasn’t just eccentric; he had the nickname of ‘Explorer’.

[North Glacier Experience]

Hyeonu no longer thought about it and immediately clicked on Ket’s article. In this area, Ket was the best. The Pioneer Guild had roamed all of the remote areas in Arena. Hyeonu had heard they were wandering around the remote areas of the East Continent specifically.

‘I sent them to the East Continent, and they are struggling there as well.’

With a light smile, Hyeonu carefully read the article on the screen.

[-The glacier zone appears after you’ve passed through the frozen canyon. The glacier and frozen canyon are similar. I can’t say anything else. I only just got to know about it. This is truly the glacier zone. There is nothing in it. it is just extremely cold. It is cold even if I wear items with cold correction effects.]

‘Is it that cold?’

The article was just a repetition of saying the glacier zone was cold, really cold… insanely cold—so cold that the items had no effect.

Hyeonu continued to read. There was still a lot of information he needed.

[-The monsters are very strong. Comparing the monsters at the entrance, they are similar or stronger than those in the Balder Mountains. In short, this zone is big. The terrain is horrible as well. It’s slippery and sharp. If you’re badly hit by a monster, your armor will be pierced by ice. Classes wearing leather or cloth should pray to survive the moment they are beaten.]

‘Stronger than those in the Balder Mountains...’

It was good news. Why was it good news that the monsters were strong? Some people might question it, but Hyeonu was very thirsty for experience and to level up right now. Lebron’s visit was delayed, so Hyeonu had one goal to accomplish during this time.

‘I will complete my fourth class advancement this time.’

It was to handle what Lebron had mentioned once in the past—the fourth class advancement. With it, Hyeonu would have another chance to become stronger.

‘Right now, my level is 294.’

Hyeonu only had six levels remaining until level 300.

‘Isn’t it a bit too much?’

It was difficult to fill up even half the experience bar from one day of hunting, let alone level-up. Of course, that period of one day wasn’t in Arena time but time in reality. It was a very slow rise considering the time difference between the two. However, this speed was only possible because it was Hyeonu. Others were leveling up at a much slower rate. Why? It was because hunting alone was impossible.

[-There are monsters that usually appear here. They appear suddenly like monsters in a dungeon. If the ice on the ground breaks, it will become a golem. In other words, everything can turn into a monster. My level is low now, so I can’t go deeper, but I think it is even more extreme inside.]

Ket’s article ended here. Hyeonu turned off the screen and smiled with satisfaction. This was pretty good information. It couldn’t be called high quality, but it was better than not knowing anything. He considered reading other articles but decided it was a waste of time.

‘I just need to use my body to deal with the rest.’

Knowing this much was enough. It was okay just to avoid unexpected situations. After that, he just had to use his skills to resolve everything else. This was what Hyeonu was best at.

***

Hyeonu passed through the frozen canyon in an instant. He ran like crazy with Tang-E. The cold frozen ground and snow that went up to his knees were no problem. Rather, he made it through smoothly. Then Hyeonu stopped. The sudden stop made Tang-E raise his head and look around. The surrounding landscape was now slightly different from before.

‘Is this the glacier zone?’ Hyeonu wondered.

The snow was whiter, and the ice still retained a blue light.

‘But it isn’t cold...?’

There was something strange. Ket’s article clearly wrote that the glacier was very cold, but Hyeonu didn’t feel any difference in the temperature. It was the same regardless of whether it was the frozen canyon or glacier. Both were a bit cold.

‘Is this the effect of an item that isn’t displayed?’

The items Hyeonu was wearing were all unique or epic rated, so the warming effect could be exceptional.

‘Or maybe it’s the effect of the fire attribute.’

There were many things that had yet to be revealed about the attributes. Presently, all that was known was basically how the strength of magic power could be increased and how deadly power could be shown to opposing attributes. There were still many secrets.

‘It is a bit cooler than before.’ Tang-E also instinctively felt that something had changed. He looked around for a long time before turning to look at Hyeonu and asking, “Is this the place written on the map, Master dude?”

“It seems so? It feels like something has changed. No?”

“I feel it too. Something has definitely changed. Why don’t you get the map out, Master dude?”

“Then how about you going down first? That way, I can take out the map.” Hyeonu smiled lightly as he watched Tang-E. After hearing Hyeonu’s words, Tang-E wriggled and left Hyeonu’s arms, settling down quietly on the snow without making a sound.

‘Hmm...’ Hyeonu pulled out, from his inventory, the map Hugo had given him and groaned.

“Where is this?”

Even if he looked at the map, he didn’t know where the marked location was.

With the passing of time, the terrain had changed, and the climate had changed. There was naturally a big difference between the current terrain and the map from Hugo. Even putting that aside, it was just impossible to guess at all. The details of the blue-white world in front of him couldn’t be distinguished at all. It was like being trapped in a huge maze.

‘Do I really need to use my body for this?’

This was worse than he’d imagined. It seemed like it would take quite a long time if he used this map. There was only one thing Hyeonu believed in, which was that the rules of the game applied to Arena. He believed there would be a minimum point of contact between the map and the present terrain. So he was going to trust this and go straight ahead.

“Come on, Tang-E. It’s hunting time.”

***

A patch of the ground in front of Hyeonu and Tang-E was overturned, and a huge chunk of ice had popped out and started to take shape. It was the exact situation described in Ket’s article. Monsters had begun to appear.

“Isn’t it cute?” Hyeonu looked at the completely formed ice golem.

“That’s cute? Master dude is crazy.” Tang-E stared at Hyeonu like he was a strange person. The ice mass that appeared in front of them was very large and threatening. It wasn’t a round block of ice but a delicately carved giant statue around 8 meters tall. The ice golem wasn’t holding any weapons, but its size was a weapon in itself. It wasn’t cute at all.

“Cute is what you should say when looking at me, crazy Master dude.”

Hyeonu either didn’t hear Tang-E’s murmur or just ignored it. He merely left a short message for Tang-E to buff him and then ran toward the ice giant.

‘How is this first hunt going to be?’ Hyeonu wondered. It was just like the feeling of anticipation before going on a ride for the first time.

Hyeonu was looking forward to this. What fun would this ice giant give him? What type of attacks and what skills would it show? While feeling curious about this giant, Hyeonu lightly shot out fighting energy. The red energy from Hyeonu’s body pierced the ice giant.

[The frost golem has received the abnormal condition ‘slowed down’.]

‘Frost golem? The name is cool.’

It would be nice if the frost golem’s level was as good as its name. Hyeonu swung the Mysterious Sky Sword toward the slightly slower frost giant. Blazing black flames smashed the frost giant’s body, but this wasn’t the end of it. The black flames started burning the body, using it as fuel.

In an instant, the frost golem’s body disappeared. It didn’t melt. It just completely disappeared. Just then, the frost golem stomped on the ground. A blue energy erupted around the frost golem, soaring and spreading around at a very high speed.

‘What?’ Hyeonu jumped into the air, avoiding the blue energy that soared with powerful momentum.

Ice appeared in the place where the blue energy passed by, and the frost golem’s lost body was gradually restored. It regained its original appearance.

‘There’s an attack and recovery pattern?’

Hyeonu laughed when he saw this scene. He found it very interesting. It was a quite colorful pattern for one monster. If it had been just a while back, this battle would’ve probably lasted a long time. However, it wasn’t the case now. The frost golem was an existence only at this level—for fun.

Hyeonu floated in the air and pointed the Mysterious Sky Sword at the frost golem. A dark ray pierced the frost golem’s chest. This was Mysterious Sky Demonic Strength, and it was very fast. The frost golem was pierced before it could react. As expected, the body of the frost golem burned again.

This time, it burned more intensely than in the previous attack. Naturally, since more magic power was used in the current attack, this meant it was incomparable to the previous one. The golem’s body disappeared instantly without even leaving a trace.

[The frost golem has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

Hyeonu smiled at the message that appeared in front of him and instinctively felt that this place was a heaven for him.

‘Is this a field for me?’

If he didn’t get the fire attribute from Rondal, he wouldn’t have been able to hunt so easily. The fire attribute was the best in this glacier area. Fire was the opposite of ice, so the fire attribute usually dealt significant additional damage to monsters with the ice attribute.

Of course, if the difference between the two was huge, the ice attribute could be overwhelming instead. It was just like how a glacier couldn’t be melted with a lighter. Nevertheless, this wasn’t the case with Hyeonu. He was stronger than the monsters here, so it was natural for the monster to take on the full blow of the fire attribute.

“Wow... This is good experience!” Hyeonu exclaimed after seeing the experience bar. It was more experience than he thought he’d get. The amount of experience received was great compared to the amount of time it took. Moreover, it seemed better than what he’d usually get in a dungeon. Hyeonu’s motivation to hunt rose, and his gamer instincts woke up. Just as a sparrow couldn’t pass by a mill, he couldn’t simply pass by this sweet hunting ground.

‘I just need a bit more, and the proficiency of Mysterious Sky Demonic Art will increase.’

There was one more factor that set his hunting desire ablaze. It was the fact that the proficiency of the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art had almost reached the end. The chance to obtain 8 stars was right in front of him. Reaching 8 stars wouldn’t give him a skill as 9 stars were needed for a skill to be generated, but the item’s performance would improve at 8 stars.

The performance of four epic items, including the Mysterious Sky Sword, would improve. This alone was of infinite value. The goal was set—reach level 300 and the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art 8 stars.