Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Small City Sok (2)
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“Ughhh.”
“It’s cold. I feel like I’m gonna freeze to death.”
Song Ha-na and Tu-hwang shivered as they trudged through the snow.
They had stocked up on cold-weather gear in the large city of Mokus.
But blocking out this extreme chill wasn’t easy.
“Think of it as mana control practice. Spread your mana thinly throughout your body. That way, you can endure the cold.”
“That’s not as easy as it sounds!”
Tu-hwang yelped in response to Kang Hyun-soo’s words.
“Hyun-soo, I’ve been trying nonstop, but it’s not working. It’s too hard.”
Song Ha-na grumbled too.
“You have to do it even if it’s not easy. That’s the only way to endure.”
The method Kang Hyun-soo had taught Song Ha-na and Tu-hwang to withstand the cold was simple.
Just spread mana thinly over the entire body.
But spreading mana evenly across the whole body wasn’t easy at all.
Simply blasting out mana strongly?
That they could do in a heartbeat.
Of course, that would let them endure the cold too.
The problem was.
It would deplete their mana in no time flat.
Even Song Ha-na, with her Mana Heart, didn’t have skills ranked high enough yet to output mana infinitely.
On top of that.
Kraaaang!
Monsters lurking in the snow ambushed them now and then.
Slash!
Thud!
Boom!
Kang Hyun-soo, Song Ha-na, and Tu-hwang fought short battles.
“Let’s go.”
The three hunters resumed their march after slaying the monsters.
The ambushes kept coming.
They couldn’t afford to waste mana defenselessly in this state.
But if they spread too little mana?
“Ugh! My ears and feet are freezing!”
In Tu-hwang’s case, areas with scant mana felt the biting cold intensely.
“It’s such a waste of mana!”
Plus, they were burning precious mana—even if just a tiny bit—with nothing to show for it.
Tu-hwang was still clumsy at fine mana control.
So he could manage his body and arms decently.
But he kept failing with his feet and ears.
Song Ha-na struggled with precise control too.
‘Why do I keep messing up?’
Keeping mana flow uniform wasn’t child’s play.
Because of that, she wasted heaps of mana and still shivered in the cold.
The silver lining?
‘My mana recovery is good, so I’m hanging in there.’
Thanks to her Mana Heart, Song Ha-na recovered mana far faster than Tu-hwang.
That let her travel a bit less chilled than him.
‘This’ll toughen them up.’
Kang Hyun-soo watched Song Ha-na and Tu-hwang shiver and suffer, muttering to himself.
Mana was a player’s foundation.
The same mana yielded wildly different results depending on control.
Players who couldn’t wield mana at will could never become rankers.
‘They’re both prodigies.’
He’d explained it just once verbally.
Yet they’d half-succeeded, more or less.
Even now, their mana control was improving in real time.
For average players?
‘It would’ve taken them at least half a year to reach that level.’
Song Ha-na and Tu-hwang had grasped in half a day what others slaved half a year for.
‘I can push them harder.’
Song Ha-na and Tu-hwang were pouring their all into mana control to fight the cold.
If they knew what Kang Hyun-soo was thinking?
They’d have bolted for their lives.
Unfortunately, neither had the ability to read his mind.
* * *
A massive city wall came into view as Kang Hyun-soo’s group pushed through the blizzard.
Small City Sok.
“We’re here.”
No sooner had Kang Hyun-soo spoken.
“Wow! We finally made it!”
“We’re saved!”
Song Ha-na and Tu-hwang hugged and shouted in pure joy.
“Huh?”
“Hmm?”
They locked awkward gazes and quickly pulled apart.
“I wanna bathe in hot water right now!”
“I just wanna crash in a soft bed with no thoughts in my head!”
Song Ha-na and Tu-hwang pretended the hug(?) never happened and listed their demands.
Kang Hyun-soo, Song Ha-na, and Tu-hwang looked like beggars after days of camping.
They hadn’t eaten properly or washed.
And that wasn’t all.
Night watches and constant monster ambushes meant no peaceful sleep.
Rest was desperate for Song Ha-na and Tu-hwang.
“We’ll rest fully today.”
“I agree! Let’s hit an inn now!”
Song Ha-na and Tu-hwang stared at Kang Hyun-soo with pleading eyes.
“That was my plan too.”
Even Kang Hyun-soo had built up fatigue from the forced march.
No rope, no matter how sturdy, stayed taut forever if pulled too tight.
‘You gotta loosen it sometimes to keep the tension.’
That’s why he’d planned to rest fully upon reaching Small City Sok, demands or no.
“Yayyy!”
“We’re alive!”
“I was scared you’d make us unpack and go hunt right away.”
“Same here. That terrified me.”
Song Ha-na and Tu-hwang chatted amiably.
‘Rolling together really bonds them.’
The more you suffer side by side, the tighter the friendship.
‘Tomorrow, I’ll grind them harder.’
Oblivious or not to Kang Hyun-soo’s thoughts.
“Let’s hurry. We’ll freeze if we stay out here.”
“Song Ha-na’s right. Move it.”
Song Ha-na and Tu-hwang urged rushing into Small City Sok.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
Kang Hyun-soo’s group passed ID checks and entered Small City Sok.
They checked into a high-end inn, bathed in hot water, ate hot food, dove into warm beds, and passed out.
The next morning.
Kang Hyun-soo’s group had breakfast.
“Delicious!”
“Sleeping in a warm, soft bed after so long felt amazing!”
Song Ha-na beamed as she chattered over breakfast with Tu-hwang.
“All your fatigue’s gone now, right?”
Kang Hyun-soo smiled as he spoke, and the smiles vanished from Song Ha-na and Tu-hwang’s faces.
“Not totally.”
Song Ha-na offered a timid excuse.
“She’s right! One day’s not enough. We need today off too to fully recover!”
Tu-hwang pushed for one more day.
But.
“With your stamina stats, how’s fatigue not gone? One night’s plenty. We eat and head out.”
It fell on deaf ears, naturally.
After breakfast.
Song Ha-na and Tu-hwang crossed Small City Sok’s gates feeling like cattle to the slaughter.
* * *
Kraaaang!
A massive Ice Troll swung sharp claws at Kang Hyun-soo with a furious roar.
Slash!
Kang Hyun-soo’s sword cleanly severed the Ice Troll’s right arm.
Boom!
In that instant, Song Ha-na’s attack skill blew the troll’s head off.
No time to rest, though.
Because there weren’t just one or two Ice Trolls.
Over ten swarmed Kang Hyun-soo’s group with relentless assault.
They swung swords and spammed skills nonstop, no breather.
After the fight.
“Huff huff!”
Song Ha-na panted heavily.
“Stamina and mana drain way too fast!”
Tu-hwang griped.
‘Of course it does.’
The hunting ground they were in now had frost on hair and eyebrows, skin freezing solid.
Stand still, and you’d freeze to death.
To avoid that?
‘You gotta circulate mana nonstop.’
Fail, and you wasted mana and stamina.
Hunting monsters while just surviving chewed through mana and stamina in this brutal cold.
No wonder they tired fast.
And then.
Grrowl!
Another monster pack appeared.
“No breather at all.”
“Why are there so damn many monsters here!”
Song Ha-na and Tu-hwang grimaced but charged.
‘Bound to be, yeah.’
The harsh cold made northern hunting grounds the worst.
Bad grounds meant players shunned them.
Some like Kang Hyun-soo’s group came for power-leveling.
‘But most bail in under a week.’
No hunters meant monster numbers exploded.
‘Just endure, and it’s fine.’
Brutal cold, rapid stamina/mana drain, endless monster waves.
Harsh, sure.
But endure?
You leveled fast short-term.
‘Plus, something to find.’
Before regression, one player was luck’s synonym, envied by all.
Player Jenna.
A dime-a-dozen mid-low level player.
But one lucky item drop.
‘Earned her the King’s Title.’
King’s Title holders were ultra-rare even among top rankers.
They were rankers’ rankers.
In a world with kings and emperors.
A mere commoner player called king or emperor? Unthinkable without insane power.
Yet she leaped from mid-low to King’s Title via one lucky item.
‘Ice King’s Necklace.’
The item that vaulted a nobody to top ranker.
Ice Arrow (single attack), Ice Storm (AoE attack), Ice Shield (single defense), Ice Fortress (AoE defense).
EX-Rank item storing those four skills.
‘Unlike Guardian’s Ring or Devouring Sword.’
Those were growth types you built up.
‘Ice King’s Necklace was complete from the start.’
EX-Rank right from discovery.
‘Instant powerhouse.’
Jenna snagged the Ice Queen title via the necklace’s four skills.
Her own combat sense and talent? Utterly average.
So in the all-out war with the Demon King’s Army, she died pathetically despite the title.
Paid the price for mistaking borrowed power for her own.
‘That handed Ice King’s Necklace to the Demon King’s Army—huge headache.’
If Kang Hyun-soo claimed Ice King’s Necklace first?
Saved Jenna’s life and kept it from the enemy.
‘Pre-regression, couldn’t get those skills even if I wanted.’
Replica only copied player skills.
Couldn’t copy item-embedded or monster skills.
‘Not this time.’
Guardian’s Ring, Devouring Sword, Ice King’s Necklace.
Claim all three.
Monopolize the icons of pre-regression God, Emperor, King title holders.
‘That’s how I stop those guys.’
Naturally avenged the traitors too.
One issue.
‘No clue where.’
Knew only acquired in Small City Sok.
Drop from monster? Dungeon clear reward? Buried in snow?
No intel.
‘Ice Queen kept her mouth shut.’
Unlike Guardian God Lee Cheol-min and Sword God Lee Gwang-ho bragging about their rings and swords.
Ice Queen Jenna just vaguely said “got it hunting around Small City Sok.”
‘Keep hunting, it’ll turn up eventually.’
So.
Kang Hyun-soo planned to roam and switch spots while hunting.
* * *
Hunt, train, rest.
Kang Hyun-soo’s group looped those three for over three months straight.
“Can’t we rest just one day?”
“Yeah, we need rest. This schedule’ll kill us for sure.”
Song Ha-na and Tu-hwang pleaded with deathly faces.
“That won’t kill you. Rest time’s short but sufficient. Plus, levels and skill ranks are shooting up. Mana control’s pro-level now.”
Kang Hyun-soo wasn’t buying it.