Chapter 100

[Third Named Boss]

[Level 48 Witch Frederica]

[HP: 4,992,760 / 50,000,000 (9%)]

The witch’s eyes, made of ice, turned blood-red.

With bloodshot eyes, her body cracking and shattering all over, she hurled ice blades in the midst of a raging storm. She looked terrifying.

[Attack Buff: 8 stacks (1 minute 19 seconds)]

I currently had an 8-stack buff.

Honestly, I had miscalculated early on.

If I had done things right, I would have reached 10 stacks of the buff.

Even breaking just one white sphere would have been enough to stop the storm, but I ended up breaking them one at a time, barely maintaining my attack buff stacks.

As a result, the attack buff broke just before the second special phase, triggering her berserk mode.

But it didn’t matter.

There wasn’t much left now.

With the buffs I’d stacked up, I could finish this.

In the violent ice storm that was now engulfing almost the entire audience chamber, I calmly activated my invincibility skills.

By linking the abilities of my bracelet and *Astaroth*, I continued my assault.

One by one, the ice blades protecting the witch’s body shattered and fell.

Finally, a single, final *Slash* cleaved through Witch Frederica’s face.

A vertical line traced her face.

The last expression she showed was one of disbelief.

Slice.

“Phew.”

With a flourish, I twirled *Astaroth* in a full circle and sheathed it.

Was this the first clear?

I opened the regional chat to check the system message.

['Noname' Party has successfully completed the first clear of the elite dungeon, ‘Frozen Palace of Ice.’]

“Hmph.”

With a satisfied smile, I nodded.

The first elite dungeon attempt, completed in a solo run broadcast, was over.

Although it seemed easy, it hadn’t been a walk in the park.

The first named boss, the spearmen and shield soldiers, had dangerous patterns. Without the information I got from Cho Hyunsoo’s stream, I might have frozen up under a 4-stack buff.

Even the final boss—after losing my buff midway, I had to push through her berserk mode.

Still, at least I didn’t have to retry.

I should focus on the fact that I finished safely.

I think I managed to show off quite well.

Thump, thump.

I gently placed my hand over my chest and felt my heartbeat.

It was just a crafted body, yet the small heart clearly made its presence known.

Then again, technically, Lee Seulbi’s body is also crafted.

The feeling is different from when I clear dungeons alone with no one watching.

Now, many people are seeing me.

Instead of feeling embarrassed, a strange sense of exhilaration washed over me.

Am I an attention seeker?

Even so, I don’t think I could ever do regular, interactive streams.

Maybe only broadcasting for first clears is fine.

I feel good.

I definitely feel most alive when I’m in battle.

Perhaps I’m destined to live with the sword for the rest of my life.

Just as I was about to end the stream, satisfied with my first public broadcast debut, I suddenly remembered something.

“Oh.”

I clapped my hands together.

I almost forgot the most important part.

I walked over to the shattered remains of *Witch Frederica* and began checking the loot.

This new expansion’s first dungeon would surely bring me some substantial rewards.

I’ll pay off my debt to Chris and earn some personal gold to use.

And once the farming is done, I’ll start running bus services.

By showing off powerful weapon options and fancy outfits, I can also promote the bus.

I can either run solo buses with a focus on safety or speed-run buses with Chris’s party.

“Huh?”

But I didn’t see any weapons.

That’s odd.

Weapons are usually the most lucrative part of early dungeon runs.

I quickly checked the loot list.

[Frozen Palace Master’s Soul]

[Elite Grade]

[Witch Frederica’s Unmelting Ice Crystal]

(Tradable)

“Hmm…”

Instead of an elite weapon, there was an unfamiliar item.

Is this it?

At first, I thought it was a material to craft a custom weapon like the *Green Dragon Heart*, but it didn’t seem to have any special reaction when I picked it up.

I took out the elite weapon I had used before, *Ancient Temple Sword*.

“Of course.”

When I held the *Frozen Palace Master’s Soul* next to the *Ancient Temple Sword*, a weapon evolution interface appeared.

【Weapon Evolution】

【Frozen Palace Master’s Soul + Ancient Temple Sword = Frozen Palace Master’s Sword】

[Frozen Palace Master’s Sword]

[Elite Grade]

[Attack Power 350]

[60% increase to ‘Moonlight Slash’ skill damage]

[Socket 1: EMPTY]

[Socket 2: EMPTY]

[Socket 3: EMPTY]

[Socket 4: EMPTY]

(Binds on evolution)

It seems like the expansion introduced a *Weapon Evolution System*.

While the *Magic Stone Enhancement* values reset, the skill damage options are inherited, and you can evolve your weapons into ones suited for your class.

As long as I have the *Frozen Palace Master’s Soul*, weapon farming is done.

With this new expansion, the time required to obtain the desired class weapon is significantly reduced.

“Ugh.”

I clicked my tongue.

The ability to inherit weapon class and skill options is certainly a player-friendly patch.

However, it also has its drawbacks.

It reduces the content’s lifespan.

At the same time, it shortens the lifespan of my main income source: bus services.

As I examined the evolution information for the *Frozen Palace Master’s Sword* in detail, I noticed something interesting under the *Magic Stone Enhancement* section.

I smirked.

“These guys…”

As expected from *Hanagames*, they’re not so easy to outwit when it comes to content pacing.

Just obtaining the elite weapon wasn’t the end.

You still need to enhance it through *Magic Stone Enhancements* to unlock its full potential.

But.

【Enhancement Materials – (Common, Advanced, Supreme) Magic Stones + Frozen Palace Essence】

[Frozen Palace Essence]

[Material Item]

[Obtained from dismantling Frozen Palace accessories or daily quests]

(Not Tradable)

From this weapon onward, you’ll need *Frozen Palace Essence* as a material to enhance your weapon.

And it’s a non-tradable item.

To enhance your weapon, you must run the *Frozen Palace* dungeon to collect the essence.

"Great."

This means I can still make good money from running buses during the expansion.

Before turning off the stream, I grabbed the *Soul* and *Essence* and moved closer to the screen.

"...So, here, you’ll use *Backward Evade* to enter the storm first. Just before the invincibility wears off, use *Reversal Strike*, and then *Slash* to deal damage and exit the storm in one move."@@novelbin@@

"At 0.25 speed, you can see it better. Rain perfectly calculates the exact moment when each invincibility skill ends."

"After exiting the storm, you launch a sword slash from the edge. This must be the new swordsman skill from the Ice Tower. After the fifth hit, you create distance, reset cooldowns, and then re-enter with *Backward Evade*. It’s a repeat process."

[What’s U-Gyeol doing?]

[Analyzing Whitedog’s battle.]

[As if analyzing means you can copy it.]

[Is the swordsman class overpowered? Solo-clearing elite dungeons—does that even make sense?]

[Gallery is half in awe, half in revolt right now, lol.]

[Overseas forums are going wild too.]

[Hanagames won’t be able to ignore this.]

[Whitedog’s synchronization rate issue should be re-investigated.]

[How do you not understand it’s not about synchronization rate anymore?]

[Lol, even with 100% sync, an orc would insta-kill you in Aon. It’s the skills and stats that even give you a chance.]

[Lol, true.]

[Mob 1, lol.]

[Even if you can’t move like her, you could still benefit from faster reaction times, right?]

[Let’s say you hacked the capsule and raised the sync rate. How would you handle the pain?]

[Yeah, mess it up, and you’ll lose your mind.]

[I tried hacking it to 50% once and got nicked by a slime. Lowered it right away, lol.]

[Forget it, the swordsman class needs a nerf.]

[How are they going to balance this?]

[Don’t talk nonsense.]

[You can’t look at the best players and then balance the entire class.]

[Nerfing Whitedog’s class would kill all swordsmen.]

[Hanagames said they wouldn’t do nerf patches.]

[They have to find a way to reduce the gap between physical monsters and regular players.]

[If they give more status effects and invincibility skills to each class, that could even things out.]

[Yeah, since Whitedog avoids a lot just by skill.]

[...]

[What’s Whitedog doing now?]

[I want to see Whitedog!]

[She’s probably checking her

loot. You can’t chat there.]

[Whitedog, please communicate with us.]

[I like watching analysis, but show us the loot already.]

The chat started buzzing again.

*U-Gyeol's* analysis content was taking a while.

"Oh, it looks like she's checking her loot, so let’s switch back to the live stream."

U-Gyeol adjusted the playback to live.

Soon, the screen showed a girl holding two items.

"...It sounds like she’s saying something..."

She seemed to be speaking quietly, her head slightly bowed, her cheeks faintly flushed.

When the volume was turned up, Rain’s voice became clear.

"...This is the weapon evolution item you get here. You can evolve the *Ancient Temple* weapon into the *Frozen Palace* weapon. But if you want to enhance the *Frozen Palace* weapon, you have to farm here. You can’t buy *Frozen Palace Essence* at the auction house."

U-Gyeol made a puzzled expression.

"...It sounds like a product pitch?"

Rain then looked up directly at the camera and firmly added.

"So, please use Chris’s bus service a lot."

[Gasp!]

[LOL!]

[I'm riding that bus ASAP.]

[Hey, give Whitedog some time to farm, lol.]

[Wait for me! I’ll buy gold and be right there!]

[So cute, all is forgiven.]

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TL NOTE: Please don't skimp on the stars and likes of the translation - it inspires me and gives me the strength to write more. Thank you~!