Ruinous King (RSSG x Male Reader)

Chapter 4: Frostbound Menace

To the northern borders of Falling Moon Town lay a zone of death to the current Players, a Forbidden Zone that not even the bravest of Players dared to brave. 

The Frozen Forest was a Level 15 to 25 area, and one that often had Level 15 Frost Wolves hunting around the snowy forests. If a Player were to come into contact with even a single one of these Frost Wolves, death would be the only outcome for them.

"This temperature sure is nostalgic..." (Y/N), having just arrived at the entrance to the Frozen Forest, couldn't help but sigh pleasantly at the chill. Of course, even if his mind were used to it, his current body was still shivering in the cold.

"Let's see...from the Map that old coot gave us, we'll find the Frostbound Specter within the Frostshard Cave to the north." Aerick spoke as he looked over the map in his hands, completely fine despite the immensely cold temperature. In fact, his golden armor just seemed to shine even brighter as a result of the cold...

"Frostshard Cave...? Oh for...that's in the central area. Looks like we'll have to do a bit of forest trekking before we even get there." (Y/N) groaned. It was already a pain to get to where they were now, having taken half an hour just to get to this place, and that was without any interruptions from enemy forces. However, within the Frozen Forest, they'd meet plenty of creatures that would love to turn (Y/N) into their newest chew toy. 

"Mm. Looks like it." Aerick nodded in agreement, the map in his hands dissipating as he drew a glowing silver sword from its sheathe.

"I'm prepared to set off whenever." Aerick's aura underwent an extreme change, momentarily stunning (Y/N). If Aerick had felt mysterious before, now, he felt like an extremely sharp blade that was prepared to strike. He had no doubts that if Aerick really wanted to, he could very well take (Y/N)'s life.

"Now that I think about it, I never did see his stats..." (Y/N) placed a hand to his chin in thought, before searching through his bag for one of his latest purchases. After a moment, he found the Skill Book he'd bought recently, and without a moment of hesitation, he chose to learn it.

[Observing Eyes] Active skill.

- Able to see clearly unknown and concealed targets. There is a fixed chance to detect target's weak point.

Cooldown: 40 seconds.

Without delay, he used [Observing Eyes] on Aerick.

[Aerick] [???-Rank]

Level 20

HP: 16,500/16,500

"Huh...if he really did have coattails I might actually have been able to physically ride his coattails to victory. What a fun world." (Y/N) momentarily went dumb as he witnessed Aerick's stats. 

A Level 20 NPC, by his side this whole time!

Aerick could quite literally slap (Y/N) to death without any effort!

Moreover, what was the deal with that ???-Rank? The only explanation he currently had was one that truly frightened him...Observing Eyes was incapable of discerning his rank, meaning that he must be much higher than Lord-rank. That, by itself, gave (Y/N) a fright.

"I should've bought more things with his money, damn it..." (Y/N) inwardly cursed at his lack of greed. Yes..."lack"...

Turning his attention back to the task at hand, he glanced over at the Quest list, finding that he had a little over three hours and fifteen minutes left. 

Without delay, (Y/N) and Aerick set off into the Frozen Forest, a scene that would've dumbfounded any other Player who saw it. After all, there was a reason why the Frozen Forest was known as a Forbidden Zone for current Players.