‘What the hell…’ Ian gulped down staring at the creature in front of him. And the reason for the whole party of Ian to be shocked was simple. The appearance of someone who was crawling out of the cave was very similar to the ‘one’ member that was in their party. ‘Maybe a family-related one of Bbookbbook…!’ When looked carefully, the tortoise that came out of the cave looking similar to that of Bbookbbook was different. He had a slightly smaller head and his eyes were a lot rounder. However, it was still easy to distinguish between that and Bbookbbook. Though it looked similar, the color of the shell was completely different.
Its shell was of the color of pure white snow, like the Frost Cave. Prrrk- Prrdk-! The guy who crawled out of the cave came in the direction of Ian and stopped at the feet of Ian’s. And opened its mouth, “Bbook, who are you guys Bbook?” And at that moment, Ian completely lost it. ‘It speaks the same was a Bbookbbook…!’ Smiling, Ian opened his mouth and answered to the tortoise of Frost Cave. “I am a summoner, Ian. These are my summons…” And the word of the summoner, the tortoise seems to be very elated.
“Nice to meet you Bbook. I am the guardian of Frost Cave. I am Pan’s friend Prettybbook, bbook.” Watching the tortoise introduce itself as ‘Prettybbook’, Ian was starting to feel very crazy. “Prettybbook-ah? Who has given you such a name?” “Obviously my friend ‘Pan’ was the one who gave me.” “…” Ian took a closer look at the so-called Prettybbook. ‘Maybe this one is a female…?’ But looking closer, there wasn’t any kind of indication that could determine the gender of it. Ian just shook his head and opened his mouth while looking at his Bbookbbook and the new one. “Bbookbbook-ah, I feel like you have a friend?”
However, even as Ian said it, Bbookbbook didn’t move a muscle. “Bbookbbook-ah, what is it?” Ian waved his hand in front of Bbookbbook’s face, but it was of no use. Bbookbbook’s eyes were intensely fixated on the Pretty bbbook. And seeing that, Ian was convinced that the sex of the new friend was indeed a female. ‘It is a female. And our Bbookbbook… I think he is in love.’ Bbookbbook’s eyes were shining. It wasn’t sure if he was nervous or starstruck. He was like a statue for a while, and then with a trembling voice, Bbookbbook opened his mouth.
“Prettybbook… pretty.” And Prettybbook who heard the praise from Bbookbbook made a daunting look. “Bubbook. You look like a tortoise who knows his game, bbook” * * * The role of Prettybbook in the Frost cave was to guide the users who came to the cave and triggered the ‘Test gate of Pan’. In other words, she was the guardian of the Frost Cave. It wasn’t even long before Ian to get to the place that seemed like the first gateway. Bubbook. Prettybbook stopped in front of Ian and spoke in his direction. “Ian, how much do you know about the spirits, bbook?”
At the question from Prettybbook, Ian responded while scratching the back of his neck. “Well. To be honest, I don’t know much about it yet. The spirits that I grew is Chirpy.” Ian pointed at Chirpy who was seated on his shoulder, and Prettybbook nodded her head. “Bbook… then it will be better to challenge from the first test gate.” Bbook- brrrok-! A purple light started to shine on the white snow. And a stone statue rose on the right. Prettybbook approached in front of it and put her sole to the side of the statue. Surprisingly, a gate began to appear at one corner of the barrier. Grrrrrng-!
And a few words came from Prettybbook’s mouth, “Let me give you a few notes before entering the first gate, bbook.” “Hmm…?” Ian, who was naturally moving for the gate got stopped by the words from Prettybbook. And Prettybbook continued what she was saying, “First, no summons can be summoned inside the gate.” “Even spirits?” “Yeah, bbook.” “Huh…”
Ian’s expression changed a little. The condition of not being able to use his summons was a rather huge penalty for Ian. “And second. There is only one chance given to challenge the gate, and there are three gates in total.” “So no trying again if it is failed?” “Yeah, bbook.” Prettybbook looked around for a second. And opened her mouth, “And at last… this gate can be challenged only with a party of five.” “Hmm…?” “However, the difficulty of the challenge doesn’t change with the number of people, bbook.”
“So, you’re saying that it is a disadvantage for a single person to challenge it alone?” “Right bbook. You are a smart human bbook.” Ian heard the whole explanation and was feeling troubled. ‘Hmm, what should I do…?’ If it weren’t for the things that Prettybbook had said, Ian would have entered the gate without any hesitation.
And as the quest difficulty was just C, he had the confidence of being alone. However, when he heard that only once was there to challenge the gate, Ian had no choice but to be cautious. ‘Do I have to open the portal and wait for the kids to come?’ Ian started to think of some names in his mind. “Huhu.”
“Awo, running would do well.” Two look-alike women appeared before Ian. Ian looked at the faces of the two women, while still in thoughts. ‘Twins…? Are these NPCs?’ Ian opened his mouth directed at the two women who appeared before him. “Who…?” But the words that came out of the woman’s mouth were things Ian had not thought of. “What is this? Is there any person who doesn’t know me? Maybe not a user?” “…?” Ian looked at them with a condescending expression.
But excluding Ian, the two girls started to fight. “Vanessa, are you stupid?” “What did I do now?” “No, that person there, did you see him about to take the quest? Even saw an NPC that does a quest?” “Uh… makes sense when I think about it.” Ian watched the two women have their conversation, and they didn’t think of stopping. “But Unnie, how can a user not know us?” “Well. Even I am curious about that.” The conversation was sounding very silly, so Ian decided to jump in.
“Hey…” “Huh?” “To think that all the users will be able to identify you… where the hell do you guys come from?” At the question from Ian, Vanessa stopped talking for a sec. “That, that…” Instead, the sister who was next to her was the one who answered, Sarah. “That, she is the 4th ranked one.” “…?” “And I am 7th ranking.” “Hmm…”
“Are there any users in Germany who wouldn’t know of the ranking duo ‘Sarah and Vanessa’?” And that words from her, Ian was able to understand. ‘Ah… these friends are the rankers of the German servers. However, if the twin sisters are 4th and 7th rankers, then no one in Germany can’t know them.’ Meeting a user of a foreign server all of a sudden, Ian hadn’t even thought of that. ‘But if they are from Germany… how are they able to talk with me? Is there any simultaneous interpretation in Kailan’s function?’ Ian was once again feeling marveled at the LB technology. But that was just for a second. It was more important to make a decision about the two sisters. ‘Should I check if the PK option is available?’ Sarah and Vanessa maybe famous rankers in the German server, but it was the first time for Ian to see them.
Ian had no idea what they were thinking. So the first thing was to see if PK was possible or not. Ian glanced at Vanessa and thought of swiping a debuff skill. [Activated the spell of summon ‘Elcarix’, ‘Slow’.] [‘Debuff’ is not available.] ‘I don’t think that PK between users is available…’ Ian’s mouth turned into a smile. If the PK wasn’t possible, that meant the utilization of the twins was endless. ‘Nice. Should I move with them for a while?’
Ian was feeling good. If they could be used well, they could be used as his labor force. Then, there would be no reason to rush and bring in Hoonie or Noel. After he summed up his thoughts, Ian’s mind started to think of something else. ‘From what they are talking… maybe they already know of the Middle-Earth?’ Sarah and Vanessa were under the impression that Ian was ‘naturally’ German. Which meant that the spirit dimension wasn’t based on the integrated servers. Then Ian thought that they didn’t have to be brought the information that they weren’t aware, just yet. And Ian started acting. “Ah, yeah? You guys are 4th and 7th huh?”
Ian tried to look surprised, looking between the two women. Vanessa nodded and put her head down liking the response of Ian. “Right? I am the 1st ranking Summoner too!” “Oh-oh!” Ian was very surprised and reacted to the words of Vanessa. Sarah and Vanessa started to talk among themselves with excitement, and Ian worked very hard on his acting. “How come you did not know about us?” “Yeah, if you were able to enter the spirit dimension… you must be at a good ranking.” “Ah, I always play the game alone.” “Oh, that so?”
“And when I think about it again, I feel like I heard your name.” “Obviously! I knew you would know!” But after a while, Prettybbook touched Ian’s leg. Maybe it was boring for her to hear their conversation. “So Ian, will you challenge it with them?” But it wasn’t Ian who answered the question of Prettybbook. The two sisters seemed to have gotten too close to Ian that now they were the ones who answered it. “Right, Ian? You will party with us, right?” “Obviously Unnie! Since we will carry it, Ian would love to be with us, right?” And the two of them fell into the hands of a beast called, Ian.