Return of the Frozen Player

The cold raindrops drenched the city. Under the rain, Specter stared at the sky where the band of light that brought the Heavenly Demon away had come from.

"Whoo, whoo...” He sank to the floor with a sigh of exhaustion. "I thought I was going to die."

Relief. He had no thought other than relief.

‘My determination to kill the Heavenly Demon with my own two hands is still there, but...’

If the Heavenly Demon was expelled even a second later, Seo Jun-Ho wouldn’t have been able to avoid a fatal wound. The Heavenly Demon had become that strong after absorbing neigong from two neigong chips. The Heavenly Demon had become an existence that could harm him in just one second.

"…Damn it."

The raw fear was still there. It was such a lethargic feeling as if he was sitting naked in front of a huge beast with its fangs exposed.

"Stop trembling, Contractor. It is all over."

A small hand above his shoulder patted him and comforted him. Seo Jun-Ho responded by forcing his trembling body to calm down. "I’m trembling because of the rain. The cold is making me shiver."

"Of course, did I say something?”

She smiled as if she knew everything.

Seo Jun-Ho flipped his wet and sweaty hair back before saying, "Yeon, stop this damned rain. The cold is making me tremble.”

- I shall bring out the sun.

With that, the dark clouds disappeared, and the warm sun quickly reappeared as if there had been a timelapse. While Seo Jun-Ho was squeezing his wet clothes dry, Yeon spoke up.

- You made a great choice by singling out the Heavenly Demon, Your Majesty.

"I know…"

Seo Jun-Ho agreed. Actually, Seo Jun-Ho had two options earlier.

‘One was to expel Isaac, Citrin, and Chef as previously planned and make sure to exacerbate the Heavenly Demon’s condition.'

The other was to expel the Heavenly Demon and kill his subordinates. In the end, Seo Jun-Ho chose to screw with the Heavenly Demon.

"In the end, it was the right answer," said the Frost Queen. "If the Heavenly Demon managed to escape with that much power intact, it would have been impossible to stop him from now on."

"I guess so."

Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t help but think that perhaps it was the reason he was shaking all over. If he had made the wrong choice, it could have really been game over for them.

- Look, Your Majesty!

Yeon looked up at the clear skies. There wasn’t just a rainbow in the skies.

- I think it is about 2,500 gapjas.

“…”

There was a large Milky Way flowing on the rainbow. It went without saying that it was a vast amount of neigong.

- All of that is what Your Majesty ripped from the body of that Heavenly Demon.

At the sight of that, Seo Jun-Ho smiled. Just imagining the fury and frustration of the Heavenly Demon, who had lost the magic he had absorbed from the neigong chips, made him incomparably happy.

- Unfortunately, it’s too bad.

A.I. Yeon revealed a bitter expression.

- If that neigong disappears just like that, we won’t be able to maintain the city's basic infrastructure.

"Disappear? Why would it disappear?"

- Hmm, it seems that you do not know.

Yeon explained slowly.

- Neigong and magic—these forces have the characteristic of returning to their origins. The Alpha and Beta neigong chips were the home bases of the neigong here, but…

"But they were destroyed.."

- And as you know, the true origin of that neigong is the Aeon Empire.

In other words, it meant that the neigong would eventually return to its true origin, the Aeon Empire.

"What exactly do you mean by being unable to maintain the infrastructure of the city?"

- Literally. Communication, transportation, production. This city was essentially using neigong as a resource.

"In other words, not being able to maintain it means…”

It meant the death of the city.

- The people will not be able to find food and will be buried in the dark, and it will be difficult to move between zones.

"Can't we make a new chip with the floating neigong up there?"

Yeon smiled bitterly and shook its head at the question.

- Neigong is like the wind, and it belongs to nature. It is something that you cannot hold down. It was only being held down because of the Aeon Empire’s help.

“…”

The neigong was crammed into chips made by the Aeon Empire’s overwhelming technology. In the first place, neigong had never really been a reliable resource because one couldn’t contain vast amounts of it in a container.

"Then…"

Seo Jun-Ho and the Frost Queen's faces darkened. Namgung Jincheon had already devastated the city, and now, it lacked the neigong to maintain its basic infrastructure.

‘The residents here will have no choice but to leave their home planet in search of a new home.’

What would it feel like to abandon your home planet? The three of them looked up at the Milky Way of neigong without saying a word. Five minutes, ten minutes, and then thirty minutes eventually passed.

"…Um, didn't you say that it would disperse quickly?"

"It’s holding together persistently. Like cotton candy."

- It is definitely weird.

Yeon tilted its head and thought hard about it.

- Their origins here have disappeared, so they should have already scattered toward their true origins... Why is it still here?

"Will we be able to use them if they stay there like that?"

- Ay, Your Majesty, even if that’s the case, how are you going to use it when it’s floating higher than the clouds?

"Tsk. Is that so? It would be nice if it were floating a bit lower."

As soon as his words came out, the neigong floated down.

"It’s coming down.”

- I-I can't believe it. Why in the world?!

The embarrassed Yeon stared at the sight, agape.

Meanwhile, the silent Keen Intuition finally spoke.

- Partner, this is my opinion, but...

Seo Jun-Ho smiled after listening to Keen Intuition for a while, "Come on, that doesn’t make sense. If what you said it’s true, then it’s a very ridiculous effect."

- There's no harm in checking.

The two of them talked for quite a while, and it made the Frost Queen feel left out. As such, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and asked, "What are you two doing? Why are you having such a fun conversation without me?"

"No—listen. Keen Intuition says it's because of my skill.”

"Your skill?" the Frost Queen asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah, do you remember the title I got after clearing the 4th floor?"

"One Who Perseveres and World Tree’s Savior."

"That's right. Keen Intuition is thinking that it's coming down because of the World Tree’s Savior title.”

The effect of the World Tree’s Savior title was very straightforward.

[World Tree’s Savior]

Grade: S

Description: A title given to the one favored by the World Tree.

Effect: Nature is on your side.

"It makes sense to some extent, so I think it won’t hurt to test it.”

"Wait, even you?" asked the Frost Queen, seemingly astonished.

At that, Seo Jun-Ho shrugged and nodded. "Don't expect too much, though."

An existence that nature would blindly follow…

Seo Jun-Ho stretched out his hand and said, "Come closer."

Swooosh.

When the enormous clump of neigong approached him like a dog wagging its tail, they couldn't deny it anymore.

“That is ridiculous…”

It was all due to the title World Tree’s Savior.

***

Seo Jun-Ho put on his dried clothes.

‘The World Tree’s Savior. To be honest, I thought it was a useless title.’

He couldn’t have imagined that it was actually hiding such an ability, and it was even an ability that humans couldn’t possibly have.

‘I have to do more research into it.’

Anyway, that would be a story for later.

Seo Jun-Ho looked at Yeon and said, "Yeon, the city should be able to stay alive in the meantime with this amount of neigong, right?”

- Hahaha, of course.

Yeon smiled dumbly. It looked at Seo Jun-Ho as if he were a strange person.

- I do not think that the heavens have abandoned Neo City. Otherwise, it would not have given us such a mysterious figure as the new emperor.

"Stop making me ride an airplane."[1]

- Airplane? What’s that?

"Ah, it means something that can go very high."

- Yeah? And what is it?

The conversation sounded incomprehensible and dumb, so Seo Jun-Ho changed the topic and spoke while staring at the ruined city.

"Yeon."

- Yes.

"Let's start with the restoration of the city."

- What is the scope of the restoration?

Seo Jun-Ho answered, "Everything. Restore everything.”

- Your Majesty’s demands are ridiculous.

"Is it impossible?"

Yeon shrugged and said.

- I did not say that.

When a hologram window popped up, Yeon tapped on it, and the collapsed buildings slowly started to restore themselves as if time was being rewound a day.

- It will probably take a few days before the restoration is complete.

Yeon turned to look at Seo Jun-Ho and asked.

- So what will you do now?

"Who knows.”

Originally, he was going to go down to Earth and rest for a few days. However, when he witnessed the Heavenly Demon’s ridiculous power, he found it hard to take a vacation.

"I need need to quickly become stronger to keep the Heavenly Demon in check."

- A way to quickly become stronger. There are a few things that come to mind, but.

Yeon trailed off.

- It's a pity that I can't even dream about the state of the midfield right now.

"What does it mean?"

- Spacecraft from many empires and clans frequented Neo City’s central business district, but since the advent of the poison gas, which eventually covered the entire planet. The planet became a satellite no one has ever visited since then. If we somehow managed to clean this planet, then I have many ways to help you quickly become stronger.

At that, Seo Jun-Ho muttered and wished that the poison gas would disappear cleanly just in case, but nothing happened. It seemed that the poison gas was too much for a mere title to resolve.

"How can I get rid of the poison gas?”

- After becoming the System A.I., I have identified gas leaks in certain areas of the planet. However, there are mutated monsters there.

"Hoh.”

When Seo Jun-Ho heard that, his thoughts started to race.

‘So the 5th Floor still has some use even after Namgung Jincheon’s death?’

If Yeon's words were true, then this was a great opportunity.

‘A chance to develop Neo City and become powerful at the same time.’

He was strong—yes, but he was just one person. The limitations of being all alone had left a deep mark on Seo Jun-Ho’s mind.

‘I can't go around the entire planet alone and get rid of the poison gas.’

It was possible but inefficient...

‘But what if I asked the Players for help?’

However, if thousands of Players started operating throughout the planet, then the time it would take to clean the planet would be drastically reduced.

When Yeon heard that idea, it expressed its concern.

- Hmm, it is certainly a good way. The question is will they help us?

"They won't help us."

Even those who had come to save him wouldn't want to do such a troublesome task.

"And that’s why we have to make them help us without making them think that they are helping us."

"Mmhm." The Frost Queen nodded with a pleased look. "Contractor can now imitate a pretty good monarch."

- Wait, what does that mean? Don't let them think they are helping us when we are receiving their help?

Yeon repeatedly blinked. It had no idea about the Players’ mindset.

"Players are calculative people.”

They were beings whose basic rule was to be rewarded for giving out help. In that case, he just had to reward them.

"The 6th Floor will open in a hundred days anyway."

However, the conditions to enter the 6th Floor were pretty difficult to meet.

[Player level cap has increased from 250 to 300 in Trium.]

[Trium's minimum Player level for entry is 200.]

Level 200. Even among the top High Rankers, only a handful of them were at Level 200 at the moment. After all, it had only been a few months since Frontier was cleared, and Frontier had a level cap of 120.

"Players need a place to level up and get to the 6th Floor.”

In that case, he just had to provide them with a place to level up. He would prioritize the Players who had come here to save him, and the hunting grounds would also be for free.

"Players are always thirsty for new hunting grounds."

If the conditions were right, then there wouldn’t be any reason for them not to hunt on the 5th Floor.

- I see...

Hearing the story, Yeon nodded.

- But there is no guarantee that the levels of the monsters here will correspond with what they want, right?

"That’s right. You really know what I’m thinking..."

And that was why he just had to investigate…

Seo Jun-Ho grinned.

'If the level of the monsters here isn’t too low...’

The 5th Floor, Neo City Area would eventually transform into a front-line floor teeming with top Players. During their time here, they would naturally spend credits to eat, drink, and sleep. And where would all those credits go?

They would all go into Seo Jun-Ho’s pockets, of course.

1. This is an idiom that means ‘don’t flatter me/boost my ego’ too much. ☜