Former Hero, Solo Play Oriented

I logged in as soon as the maintenance was over and checked the ‘Patch Notes’ to see what skills had changed.

After this patch, the invulnerabilities for each class were strengthened and added. For Onmyoji, personal ‘Protection Talismans’ now last 5 seconds and ignore damage 5 times, while Wizards saw an increase in invulnerability counts for party ‘Ice Prisons’ and personal ‘Flame Barriers.’

Rangers also got a new invincibility skill that includes a stackable movement ability, and Archers received one protective party skill. While Archers didn’t get additional invincibility skills, their tendency was always to tank with damage reduction abilities rather than rely on invincibility.

The Fighter’s ‘Evasion Technique’ has split into Left and Right Evasions, and the invulnerability duration was increased.

Overall, it seems there was a tremendous shift with the invulnerability skills across each class.

The buffs bestowed by the management will play a significant role in reducing difficulty until the ‘Ice Castle of the Frozen Land’ dungeon.

I chuckled slightly.

Which means…

“Future dungeons are going to be tougher, huh?”

With the overall increase in skills for pattern evasion, the special patterns will also be harder.

There will likely be raging patterns that can’t be avoided with invulnerability now.

“Assessment….”

[Counter (A)]

[Attacks the enemy’s back (Cooldown 8 seconds)]

[(D Rank) Invulnerable during casting]

[(C Rank) Transitions to ‘Sword Drawing Technique’ upon usage]

[(A Rank) Splits into Counter (Left) and Counter (Right)]

Just like the Fighter’s Left and Right Evasions, a new counterattack that turns to the right has emerged. Plus, the invulnerability time for ‘Backward Evasion’ has increased.

It doesn’t seem like my gameplay will change drastically.

I might be able to make better use of the item ‘Cooldown Reset’?

They didn’t touch the coefficients of other skills. It seems they decided that there wasn’t much to alter in terms of damage balance across the classes.

Having confirmed the changes to the invulnerability skills, I closed the patch notes I had pulled up in front of me.

“So, what should I do now?”

I sat behind the ‘Ice Castle of the Frozen Land,’ staring blankly at the ‘Unfrozen Lake.’

Personal farming was done.

I had converted all the accessories that didn’t have the options I wanted into ‘Essence of the Ice Castle.’

Having monopolized the accessories through solo play, I had enough essence for accessory enhancement.

Chris was still farming.

Four-person farming takes longer than solo play because everyone has to wait until they get their desired accessories. Of course, it’s questionable whether other users even can solo at this point.

Since accessory enhancement for this dungeon requires ‘Essence of the Ice Castle,’ the farming time will be a bit longer.

“I want to quickly run a bus tour with Sister Chris.”

I stretched my finger out to draw Chris’s face in the snow.

Face. Draw a circle.

Hair. A few straight lines on each side.

Papapap!

I hastily erased the drawing.

Sister Chris is much prettier than this.

Drawing my pretty sister’s face with my pathetic skills would be an insult.

Should I just go in and let her feast on all the accessories while farming? No, if I join Chris’s party, one out of four won’t be able to farm.

What about letting just Sister Chris solo farm while the other three go with someone else?

Is continuing solo while trading ‘Spirit of the Ice Castle Lord’ the best option?

The prices for spirits are still decent, but I still felt a bit unsatisfied thinking about only farming this.

Should I run a solo bus?

However, at the beginning of the dungeon, solo bus runs aren’t very profitable. If some effort has already been put into farming, I could gather passengers who need different items and give them the accessories they want, but right now, every user needs every piece of accessories. Even essences are needed.

There’s no way I’m paying for an expensive bus if I can’t even monopolize the items.

I guess I’ll have to go for an inefficient option and run a 1:1 bus with just one passenger.

I opened the chat interface and began writing a regional message.

Oh right, I also turned off the whisper block.

Chirp. Bang!

“Whoa…! I only saw it in videos, but you really clear it solo!”

“Ahhh! Did you know that Rain is the only one running a bus right now!?”

“Ahem. I gave a bit for the first clear quest, but won’t this guy get anything in return?”

“Thank you!”

After completing the first bus in the Ice Castle, I bowed my head to the customers.

The young guy who whispered me first paid the full fare and received all the items.

A woman in her early twenties and a middle-aged man only paid a small amount to achieve their first clear quest.

Using the ‘Party Leader Function’ that Chris told me about, I had the screenshot recording set to off.

My dungeon play is a product in itself. I can’t just let others film it.

If you want to see it, then raise the views on my YouTube account.

Yet, during the second bus, I discovered that the appeal of my solo bus lies elsewhere.

“Is it okay if I hold your hand? I paid a lot of gold.”

“I want to pet your head!”

“Uh, umm.”

I know I’m good-looking.

But I never expected so many people would want to take a bus just for my face.

And surprisingly, more women than men seemed to be approaching me.

Is my face something special for women?

“I’m sorry.”

This game has a high level of freedom regarding player interactions. Perhaps because it’s an adult game or something.

As long as you attack with certainty, there’s no penalty for countering. But, regarding general touching, things get a bit ambiguous.

I know all too well.

Among the women reaching out to me, some had ulterior motives.

What about Sister Chris?

I can trust her. She would never harm me. In fact, it feels nice when she touches me.

But with others, I feel a sense of aversion.

Of course, given that the average user synchronization rate is around 20%, what pleasure could they get from playing the game, but for me directly being touched, it’s a definite 100%. I’m not feeling good about it.

Avoiding the gazes of the women eyeing me hungrily, I completed the second bus.

During the third bus, disaster struck.

“Ahhhh~! A monster~!”

Thud.

I dodged the full-body tackle of a woman intentionally running at me.
I frowned.

“This is problematic.”

“Tch.”

The green-haired elf ranger spat as she lay on the ground.

This passenger was quite brazen.

She was pretty, but she’s no comparison to Sister Chris—a firefly in front of the sun.

Being petted by a lady with such impure motives would definitely not feel good.

She tormented me all the way to the path of the Level 3 Named Enemy, attempting to touch my hand or put a hand on my head.

Swish.

Then, she finally crossed the line.

She was about to touch my backside.

“Ah…!”

Now I was genuinely angry.

I could tolerate mob stealing in the field and being attacked.

But my body belongs to Chris. I don’t intend to let anyone touch it.

Even if they paid for the bus, that doesn’t mean they get to do whatever they want.

Clang!

I put my hand over the sheath of ‘Astaroth’ and suddenly recalled that there’s an ‘Admin Call’ function.

Chris had advised me on several contingency plans, feeling uneasy about me not being assertive in such situations.
She told me to use this function when meeting impurely motivated individuals.

Beep.

I opened the interface window and left a message with customer service.

Flash!

Not long after, amidst a golden glow, a fifth person appeared in the four-person dungeon.

“Gah…!”

“Who are you?!”

The other female and male passengers who were following behind gasped in surprise. The elf woman beside me, who had been fiddling with her hands, froze.

The fifth person who appeared inside the dungeon. She was…

“Hello~ I am Operator Summer~ …Oh? Rain?”

She wore what looked like a wizard’s robe—colorful and vibrant, with her blonde hair fluttering as she appeared, greeting us with a bright smile and a peace sign.

While posing, she looked surprised to see me.

Wait, why are you surprised?

I’m more surprised, you know?

Doesn’t the ID of the person who applied for the inquiry show up?

She was definitely Team Leader Han Yeoreum from One Games’ marketing department.

Wasn’t she part of the marketing team?

Why is she here playing the role of an operator?

I realized I had a lot of questions for her, but first, I had something to say.

I glared at the elf woman beside me and reported what she had done.

“That lady tried to touch me without consent, you know? Um, my backside too!”

“W-what!”

She looked at the video recording device floating behind me. This personal device allows for screenshots and videos but also had a replay function for a certain period in the past.

After reviewing the video, she wore a very angry expression.

“Just because I’m an operator doesn’t mean I’m overpowered in-game. But, I do have some absolute privileges. One of them is…”

She pointed her staff at the green-haired elf woman, smiling sweetly.

“It’s the authority to disconnect the connection between the Continent of Astria and the outside world. Ranger, ‘Archer Baekto,’ according to operating policy Article 4, Clause 2, ‘In the case of causing inconvenience to other customers in a socially unacceptable manner,’ you are being suspended for 7 days~ Please provide your explanation via the A.O official website’s customer service~”

“W-wait! Ahhhh!”

Swish.

With a frightened scream, the elf woman promptly disappeared from the game.

“Wow.”

I stared blankly at the spot where she had vanished.

Operators really have tyrant-like powers.

---