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A sudden regional announcement shook the entire player bases of the neighboring kingdoms and empires around the Frozen Kingdom. The announcement told everyone that the borders of the said kingdom were opened to the public.
This came a little too sudden since the players were expecting that it would be opened after a day or two more. But it seemed like an unexpected event occurred that made the kingdom open its borders much earlier.
Regardless, this did not stop the players from flocking toward the Frozen Kingdom to explore this newly opened high-level neutral kingdom.
But it did not take long for everyone to realize that getting into the kingdom was easier said than done. It was because they all needed to traverse a quite high-level region before getting there. These regions were filled with high-level monsters, which would be a major obstacle for them.
Aside from that, the said regions were also quite large to traverse, which required quite an effort to traverse. Their supplies and energies would already be exhausted before they could even reach their destination.
This was where the significance of the Golden City and Gold Mountain came into play. With the city being situated in the middle of the Sky Deceiving Valley, the players would be able to save a lot of time, effort, and resources when traveling toward the Frozen Kingdom.
Not only that but there was also a special teleportation formation connected to the city, which the players could use to enter the Frozen Kingdom much easier.
Moreover, the teleportation formation was also surrounded by an advanced settlement that the players could use as some sort of base when adventuring the kingdom.
This teleportation formation that Shin had stolen from Immortal during their previous clash in the Frozen Kingdom. The formation indeed came in handy, especially when the Hand of Midas was able to build a decent settlement around it along with a defensive formation that would be able to fend off and confuse the stray monsters roaming around it.
With this benefit, a lot of players immediately flocked toward the Golden City, not caring about the five gold entry fees on top of the teleportation fee that was being collected.
This was quite a rip-off or sort, but the players did not care, particularly the elites and experts, since the return that they would get once they arrived at the Frozen Kingdom would be able to cover their losses.
Shiella was grinning from ear to ear when she saw all of these. Her strategy indeed worked out and even exceeded it in some way.
Partnering with her brother was indeed the right choice. She was able to foresee this the moment she heard the plan that Shin had, which was why she did not ask much when Shin gave her his proposal.
Moreover, this was just the start of everything. Once the players realized how hard it was to explore the regions in the Frozen Kingdom, they would have to go back and develop in a place with a slightly lower difficulty, which was what the Sky Deceiving Valley had.
The hype of the Frozen Kingdom would last for quite a while before everyone was able to calm down, especially when the exploring players repeatedly stumble upon a lot of things such as finding a pack of Dire Artic Wolves, which was filled with Level 175 Chieftain Rank Monsters that were comparable to Level 150 Lord Rank Monsters.
There was also a nest of Wyverns or a tribe of Glacial Trolls, which were Level 200 Lord Rank Monsters.
A lot of people died during the process of discovering them, but they did not mind as they were too excited to see such monsters.
Aside from these, there were also a few additions to the game that made the people very excited.
A new religion called Dragon Worshippers was added right after the Frozen Kingdom became available to the public. When the players looked at the official website to see what kind of classes were under the said religion, everyone became even crazier.
It was because the class names alone were more than enough to make them want to switch their classes. Names such as Wyvern Rider, Draconic Fighter, and Silver Hunter were so cool that the players wanted to reach Frozen City as soon as possible.
But the said city was situated in the deeper parts of the kingdom, which was currently impossible to reach with the current strength of the players.
Aside from that, the description of each class indicated that these special classes were potential Ascended Classes that could lead the players to promote their respective races to ascended ones.
However, they were unaware that converting to those classes required them to have a lot of skill and decent strength to pass the difficult trials prepared by the Dragon Worshipers Temple.
Only those who were worthy could become Ascended.
Speaking of Ascended Races, new races were also added along with the opening of the Frozen Kingdom. The said races were the Vampire Race, a cool race that seemed to fall under the undead category, and the Barbarian Race, which was from a Northern Warrior Tribe living deep in the frozen hills and glacial plains of the kingdom.
The Vampire Race was quite a special one since it did not have any specific classes under it. But it was an evolving race that could fully rival Transcendent Races once it reached its full potential, especially the rank of Vampire Monarch.
"Don't do anything unnecessary until I give you permission and save the villagers if you see them in danger," he instructed, particularly glaring at Grimrace.
Seeing the disappointed look on Grimrace's face, Shin suddenly added. "You will have your fun later once we secure the safety of the villagers."
Hearing that, this Eldritch Psychic Spirit suddenly became lively and eager to do a good job.
After that, Grimrace and Blackie disappeared into the forest under their respective stealth abilities.
Shin then walked forward, advancing cautiously along with Hanzo, who was keeping the formation in check.
He was a little deep into the island when a summon suddenly appeared in front of him. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, this person saw somewhat familiar.
Daven looked at Shin and said. "I know that you will be coming. What do you think? Interested in accepting our proposal?"
Shin raised his brows slightly after hearing what the other party had said. From the look of it, Daven had been waiting for him here since the time they met each other in the Shunkai Forest.
This time, Shin did not brush the latter off as he knew that there was something more to it than what he could see from this island. He decided to hear them out and figure out what they were after. "What do you want?"
Hearing that Shin did not instantly reject him, unlike their first encounter, Daven suddenly smiled and said. "Since you no longer need our help in fending off those people hunting you, we are adding a few more conditions along with the information that we are providing you."
"We will help you save the sacrifices and let them leave this island safe and sound on top of the previous conditions that I have proposed," he added.
Shin did not immediately respond to the other party and kept his silence.
Seeing that, Daven continued. "We will also not harm you in any way or plot anything against you or the villagers. You can even list all the conditions that you want, and we will accept it as long as it is an honest partnership."
"Honest, huh?" said Shin skeptically as he knew very well not to trust the words of these people. Regardless, he still asked. "So, like I said – what do you guys want from me?"
Daven smiled as he answered. "We just don't want you to get involved in our matters when the 'honored' guest that we are waiting for arrives on this island."
"Don't worry. That guest is from the Corrupted Cult, and this is an 'internal' conflict that we have to deal with ourselves," he added after seeing a glint in Shin's eyes.
'It looks like they are afraid that I will sabotage their mission,' he thought as he got the confirmation that Immortal and his people indeed betrayed the Corrupted Cult.
Given their encounter with Shin, it seemed like Immortal had already learned his lesson and did not want to clash until he had absolute confidence in his plans.
Shin considered the proposal while keeping his guard up. His priority was to save the villagers and sabotage whatever the Corrupted Cult was planning to do here. Since it was quite near to his territory, he did not want any trouble to arise in the future after leaving some loose ends.
His second objective seemed to align with what Daven was planning to do, so he felt that it was somewhat plausible.
After considering it for a moment, he suddenly took out a pair of prison prism and said. "I need some assurance, so let me capture those two hiding behind the trees until this cooperation is over."
"We can write additional conditions for it in the contract," he added with a tone that Daven could not reject.
Regardless, Daven smiled in satisfaction before complementing Shin. "It seems like you are more amazing than what our boss has described."
At the same time, Rust, who was the 'betrayer' of the Silent Night, and a swordsman of a fallen race stepped out from behind the trees that they were hiding.
Rust was wearing a deep frown while the swordsman was glaring sharply at Shin, but they never voiced out any complaint, seemingly accepting the decision that Daven would make.
"You have our deal," Daven smiled as he agreed with what Shin had proposed. It seemed like he was completely unbothered using his comrades as a form of collateral.
Seeing that expression, Shin could not help but become a little more suspicious of the situation. 'It seems like their mission is much bigger than I expected.'
......