Guseha was the Skin Maker himself? The flustered Peak Sword shut his mouth and Regas greeted him instead, “I never imagined that Guseha and Shift would be the same person. I wanted to see both of you if there was an opportunity. Now I get to meet both at once in this way! It is like fate! Hahaha!”
“…How do you know that I’m Guseha?”
Guseha was well aware that the Overgeared Kingdom’s information network was great. It was right to be aware of the Overgeared Shadows’ eyes and ears everywhere. However, Guseha’s current appearance was a new work. It was a skin he was using for the first time today. It was impossible for the Overgeared Guild to know he was Guseha unless they were monitoring Guseha in real time.
Regas saw his wary stance and pointed toward Peak Sword. “This person is your big fan. He immediately recognized you when we met at the roadside stall just now. He noticed based on the angle that your eyebrows…? Haha.”
“Hum hum.” Peak Sword coughed. He was very embarrassed because an uncle was telling another uncle he admired that ‘I am such an avid fan I can identify you by looking at your little habits.’ Still, this embarrassment was just temporary. He was meeting the muse he had been looking forward to for 20 years and was frankly delighted. “Guseha, the king of ballads and the master of great classics is a brilliant star to me. It is a pleasure and honor to meet you, Hyung-nim. An autograph… if possible, please meet me in reality. Of course, this is when your time is free.”
“Hahaha.” Guseha read the sincerity in Peak Sword’s nervously trembling voice and put away his vigilance. He gave a happy smile, shook hands with Peak Sword, and spoke, “I’ve been a fan since you were the master of the Silver Knights Guild, the only active Korean Guild. I was cheering for you from a distance but if I knew you were my fan, I would’ve cheered for you from a closer distance.”
“Hyung-nim! My face value might be high but I am eight years younger than you! Please speak to me comfortably! Aren’t we both citizens of eastern countries with manners?”
“I’ll talk to you without honorifics if we become closer later.”
“I hope that day will come, Hyung-nim!” Peak Sword wrapped both his hands around Guseha’s hand and his eyes shone as brightly as a girl. It resembled his eyes when he looked at Grid.
***
Guseha had been a top star for 20 years and he was skillful in how he conducted himself. He soothed the excited Peak Sword, solved things moderately, and naturally brought up the main point—Death God Knight. He explained how and why he was targeted by this mercenary. At the center of the story was something called ‘Heart of the Frost Queen.’
“Heart?”
The Frost Queen—she was the ruler of Heraris and people were familiar with her. It was just like the Frost Queen’s Breath that Grid had used to make Mumud’s Orb. There are various items collected in the Heraris area that had the name ‘Frost Queen‘ attached to them and these items were widely used in various fields.
People couldn’t be unaware of the Frost Queen. For example, Lauel often referred to the Frost Queen when leading troops. The excited soldiers were told to cool off their heated blood by recalling the cold breath of the Frost Queen and the soldiers understood it.
However, the number of people to actually witness the Frost Queen was rare. In fact, it was more like ‘none.’ Still, the world was wide and there were many people, so it was impossible to jump to conclusions.
Heraris—it was a place where the white snowfields endlessly spread out and people lost their sense of direction. It was only a white, vast land. The moment they stepped in there, travelers despaired over the compass that became useless. They wandered for a long time before dying. Due to the cold that froze even the flow of mana, magic didn’t trigger so it was impossible to escape.
It was a famous story that Skunk, the adventurer who completed a map of the West Continent, had suffered 17 deaths in Heraris. Yet even such a Skunk didn’t meet the Frost Queen. Skunk succeeded in exploring the ‘area’ of Heraris, but he didn’t clear the dungeons that existed in this area. Dungeons in the Heraris region were too dangerous for Skunk to explore.
The Frost Queen was either somewhere in one of those uncharted dungeons or wandering in the snow, so it was difficult to meet her. Yet there was her heart? Didn’t this mean that someone had found the Frost Queen and killed her?
“It was in the Hemilton principality a year ago that I got the queen’s heart. I heard a rumor that the princess couldn’t come out of the castle due to a burn on her face that she obtained in her childhood. I visited her and treated her and the prince gave me this gift as thanks. Well, it is more accurate to say I ‘got rid’ of the wound rather than healing it.[1]”
“Hah…”
“Wow, listening to you, skin making is a skill with a very wide usage.”
The class rating of the Skin Maker was just rare rated. It had the unique ability to change the appearance of items and characters. There was sufficient demand for the ability, but there wasn’t any big merit other than making money. People speculated that there would be definite limitations on the growth because it was a non-combat class. Regas and Peak Sword’s thoughts were the same.
However, Guseha knew how to make good use of his ability. Rather than simply doing business with people who wanted to be ‘cool,’ he traveled all over the continent and helped those who desperately needed his power. He grew by gaining quests, preempting favorable information, and securing rare treasures. This was why people couldn’t easily meet the Skin Maker. He didn’t bother receiving a player’s commission unless they paid a considerable amount of money. He was entitled to pick his customers.
“Hemilton… Hemilton. Didn’t the prince participate in Lord’s coming of age ceremony?”
"Yes, it is a nation founded by the third son of Saharan. It was the area where the African leopard was active in the past.”
“Kujarak? Did he raid the Frost Queen?”
Kujarak, a strong person from Africa—he didn’t participate in official activities like the National Competition, but he was a famous high ranker. It was just like how people thought of Kraugel as ‘one of the few people who can fight against Grid.’ Following this idea, during the period of Kraugel’s supremacy, Kujarak was evaluated as ‘one of the few people who has a chance to win against Kraugel.’
He was a figure who received the expectations of people and exceeded them greatly. It was because he was a fighter with a rare style. His pure physical ability was overwhelming unlike Kraugel, who had natural senses and Hao, who had been honing his skills his whole life. This was important considering the characteristics of virtual reality games that were heavily influenced by physical ability. Therefore, Kujarak’s superior physical ability was an excellent advantage compared to the people of South Korea, who were exceptionally weak in Satisfy. It was as if they were looking at a beast…
Whether it was the past or now, Kujarak’s sightings would ignite the hearts of top rankers. One of the opponents that Regas wanted to fight most was Kujarak. Regas and Peak Sword judged that Kujarak might’ve raided the Frost Queen with his skills.
“Who knows? I didn’t hear about the source of the heart. For someone like me, Kujarak is an otherworldly figure like the two of you. Therefore, I didn’t think about Kujarak’s name when I got the heart.” Guseha continued speaking, “Yet thinking about it now, it is likely to be associated with Kujarak. Those who have been eyeing at the Heart of the Frost Queen have long known that the Hemilton principality has been holding the heart. The reason why they didn’t take the heart from the principality despite being about to afford Knight was probably because they were wary of Kujarak. Of course, it is said that the strength of the prince is also extraordinary…”
[The player ‘Shift’ has shared information on the Heart of the Frost Queen.]
[Heart of the Frost Queen]
[The last legacy or curse of the Frost Queen.
Perfectly assimilates with the cold when taken. The attack power of the cold attribute will increase significantly. Every time cold damage is suffered, resources such as health and mana are recovered in proportion to the amount of damage. The lower the ambient temperature, the higher the ability level.
★ Some stats will be changed.
★ Items equipped are limited to the cold attribute items.
★ Skills or magic with attributes other than no attributes and the cold attribute can’t be used.
★ The ‘Ice Fog’ skill is always applied.
★ The ‘Ice Kingdom’ skill is created.]
[Ice Fog]
[Deals 5,000 cold damage per second to all targets within a radius of five meters. Targets exposed to the fog for over six seconds will suffer from the ‘freezing’ abnormal condition and suffer 20,000 fixed damage per second. Lasts for at least four seconds up to 12 seconds. Can’t be disabled.]
[Ice Kingdom]
[It is activated when staying in one area for more than a certain period of time. It freezes the world, creating a paradise of solitude.
However, it is limited to territories without an owner and is limited in area.]
“……” Peak Sword’s expression crumpled like a piece of paper. He thought it would be a great item because it was a gift from the prince of Hemilton, but it was completely different from his imagination. It was an item that belonged to the elixir category. It must be taken to exert the effect, but it would always cause wide-area damage that was impossible to identify? It was a cursed object that brought only death. It was more like the class change book of a boss monster. “The person who gave this gift… are they a malicious person?”
“There is nothing bad. A thing doesn’t have to be usable for the value to be high.”
“That is true, but…”
The Heart of the Frost Queen was reminiscent of a diamond with a frozen surface. It was beautiful enough for cries of admiration to come out. It could be traded at a high price even as a simple decoration. Additionally, the types of humans were very diverse so there were those who didn’t care about being alone. For whatever reason, anyone with a desire for power would covet such an object.
Guseha continued, “Knight’s employer has been approaching me in the six months since I got the heart. He learned late that the heart was in my hands and came to me saying he wanted to buy it. Of course, I refused. It is common sense that an item like this is too dangerous.”
“That’s when the hunting began.”
"Yes, I could change my appearance, so it was relatively easy to avoid the tracking, but… it is hard to run away forever and the transformation didn’t work on Knight.”
“Um… By the way, Hyung-nim, why are you carrying what your enemies are after in your inventory instead of leaving it in a warehouse? What would you do if you died and dropped it?” Peak Sword wondered.
“Don’t mention it. I left it in the warehouse once and the cold went out of control, causing all the items in the warehouse to be frozen. Then the bank ruled that I wasn’t allowed to store it in the warehouse.”
“What the… then it is fine to leave it in your inventory?”
“Yes, it is like it is trying to tempt me by making me always look at it.”
“It is a cursed thing.”
“That’s right. So I wanted to leave this with Grid. If it is Grid, then he won’t use it casually and it won’t be easily taken away by someone.”
The recent tyranny of the lords had led to an opportunity to shed light on Grid and Ares again. In particular, Grid had never wielded power recklessly despite having power comparable to the empress. Even the Chinese media, malicious to Grid, had started to call him a man of honor. Guseha trusted Grid.
"I guess, but… God Grid isn’t invincible. There are times when he dies. God Grid might not be able to protect the heart forever.”
“I’ll figure out a way to deal with the heart as soon as possible. I would be grateful if you could arrange for Grid to keep it until then.” Guseha bowed deeply. He felt sorry for asking such a difficult favor without notice.
Peak Sword thought about it before nodding. “The intention is good… let me explain the situation to God Grid.”
Guseha’s attitude of not wanting this power to fall into the wrong hands was truly wonderful. However, would Grid want to accept something that was so obviously troublesome? Peak Sword was worried but his worries were groundless.
“Of course, I will take it. It will be a pain if this falls into the hands of a guy like Agnus.” Grid readily accepted it, but he attached a condition—Guseha had to accept the Overgeared members’ request to create skins.
Lauel rejoiced.
1. I've googled over what the ruler of a principality could be called and got extremely confused the more I googled. However, I eventually decided to go with prince.
