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Chapter 138. Superstar (1)

Skaya and Seo Jun-Ho headed back toward Dewdrop Inn. They didn’t have the luxury of personal training rooms in Frontier like they did back at the Association, and the most private place they could train was in a guestroom.

“Maybe I should buy a mansion with a personal training ground in the future…” Seo Jun-Ho muttered.

“Huh? What was that?”

“Nothing.” Seo Jun-Ho shook his head lightly. He made them a cup of tea and sat down. “So what’s this technique that will make me become at least twice as strong?”

“First…” Skaya held out her hand, palm-up. Seo Jun-Ho stared dumbly at it.

“...Are you asking me to pay you?” he asked.

“What are you saying? Give me your hand so I can check something.”

When he offered his hand to her, Skaya checked his pulse like a doctor. Her eyes widened in surprise. “Geez, did you take a potion or something?”

“A potion? I haven’t taken any since I awakened.”

Back in the day, the 5 Heroes would be sold every new potion or even receive them for free. After all, the stronger they got, the more people they would be able to save.

‘Of course, I can only dream about that now since people are too busy caring about their own profits.’

Seo Jun-Ho pulled back his hand. “Why do you ask?”

“Well… Your magic circuits look a lot sturdier than before. At this level, you shouldn’t be losing any magic power,” Skaya explained.

“Oh, that’s because of the Cave of Trials.” After he cleared the 10th floor, his magic loss rate reached 0%, which meant that excess energy no longer leaked out from him.

“Good. You’ve met the basic requirements.”

“Requirements for what?”

“For the possibility of reaching the next stage.” She nodded. “Jun-Ho, did you know that I studied STEM before the Gates started appearing?”

“Yeah. You were studying engineering, weren’t you?”

Back then, she had been obsessively studying science instead of magic. Skaya grinned and nodded. “That’s right. Let me explain this to you as Skaya Killiland, the engineering student.”

She gestured with a finger, pulling up a hologram image of a computer. “Do you remember these? We only use holograms nowadays, but we used to use computers.”

“Of course I do. I know a bit about them.” Like most male high school and college students, Seo Jun-Ho used to have a great interest in computers.

“Alright. Then, do you know what PC boosters are? Manufacturers install them in their devices.”

“Yup.”

PC boosters, as the name implied, were a feature that boosted a PC’s performance. All you had to do was press the BIOS key to activate it.

“But there’s a downside to using boosters,” Skaya said.

“...Even though it boosts performance, it takes up a lot more energy.”

“That’s right. Most people don’t know how to Overclock their device, so boosters were a last resort installed by the manufacturers. In other words, it’s not cost-efficient.”

Thus, computer enthusiasts would turn to the perilous path of overclocking.

“When we came up with Booster, we had computers in mind too,” Skaya said.

“I think you said something like this back then: ‘Jun-Ho, if your magic circuits were a little stronger and you just met one more requirement… You’d be able to use a much more efficient technique’.”

“You sure have a good memory. That’s right! Congratulations, you’ve reached both of those conditions.”

“...I have?” Seo Jun-Ho blinked.

It was easy to see that he had reached the first condition.

‘When your magic loss rate reaches 0%, your circuits get stronger. And…’

He received the skill book for Circuit Strengthening (B) from Baron Vashti. Once he learned the skill, his magic circuits would be much stronger than they were right now.

“But you said I reached the second condition as well. What is it?”

“Hmmm, I suppose you don’t know all that much about Overclocking,” Skaya remarked.

“I only know the basics. I’m not that big of a nerd.”

Overclocking allowed you to surpass the limits of the PC and use more energy to optimize performance. In theory, it was similar to Booster, but the effects were vastly different. The more you wanted to increase the clock speed, the less voltage you used. This was all Seo Jun-Ho knew about Overclocking.

“You only need to know the basics. Do you know what you absolutely need to reach the highest possible processing speed?”

“...A friend who’s good with computers?”

“Wrong, you idiot. It’s a coolant.”

“A coolant?”

“Yeah. Overclocking allows you to surpass the limits of the CPU and supply a lot more voltage. This will let you reach maximum performance, but it creates an insane amount of heat. If you can’t contain it, the CPU will die.”

“...That’s scary.”

Skaya was comparing his body to a computer. If he wasn’t able to handle the heat, his brain would short-circuit.

“Even if you try to use a fan, it’ll keep turning on and off, so you can’t achieve maximum Overclocking,” Skaya explained.

“So that’s why you need a coolant…”

“Right. If you want me to tell you about the options…”

“No, thanks. Let’s get back on track.”

Skaya looked disappointed as she continued. “You have the Frost skill. I think that’ll work as a coolant.”

“Yeah, I tried that already, but it didn’t work.” Seo Jun-Ho shook his head. “Frost wasn’t even enough to handle the overheating from Booster.”

“Are you sure? That shouldn’t be the case…” Skaya chuckled. The Frost Queen, who was sitting next to Jun-Ho, also shook her head.

“You don’t think deeply enough about these things. What would you have done without your noona?”

“...We’re the same age now.”

“You’re funny. Do you call Deok-Gu ‘hyung,’ then?”

Seo Jun-Ho didn’t know what to say.

He quickly changed the subject. “So, how should I use Frost?”

“I mean exactly what I said. Use it like you would a coolant.”

He still wasn’t sure how he could use a skill for making ice directly as a coolant. Seo Jun-Ho furrowed his eyebrows. He looked at Skaya expectantly, but he was starting to get impatient.

“First, tell me what you’ve tried with the Frost skill.”

“I covered my body in ice and lowered the temperature around me.” After intense battles, even that was hard. He had to get help from the Frost Queen.

“...Is that all?”

“Yup.” Seo Jun-Ho tilted his head. Was there anything else he could have done?

Skaya scratched her head. “Listen carefully. There’s no point in using Frost to cool your skin. You should be using that on your enemies, not yourself.”

“Then, what am I supposed to do?”

“You need to infuse all the magic energy inside of you with Frost’s energy.”

So he would change the element of his magic energy? Seo Jun-Ho blinked.

“No matter how strong my magic circuits are, infusing the energy inside me with an element would be harmful,” he said.

“Jun-Ho. You still don’t get it.” Skaya patted his shoulder. “Overclocking is a race against time.”

“...”

To optimize performance while lowering voltage as much as possible—that was the alpha and omega of Overclocking.

“You have to create an energy that your magic circuits can handle while stopping yourself from overheating.”

It sounded intimidating. Plus, it carried the risk of damaging his magic circuits if he messed up.

“...Do I really have to go that far?”

“The choice is yours, of course. But if you do the calculations, isn’t it the best option?” Skaya tapped her temple with her finger.

Overclocking was undeniably ludicrous.

‘If I figure out a way to handle the heat, I should be able to use more magic than usual.’

Booster had already made his strength and speed much higher than normal, but Overclocking would make him even more powerful than that.

‘...It’s tempting.’

Additionally, there wasn’t a big difference in magic consumption between Overclocking and Booster.

The only problem was overheating. But as long as he kept it under his watch, it would be perfect.

“Seems like I’ll be busy for a while...” Seo Jun-Ho laid back on the couch.

Skaya took a sip of tea. “It’ll probably only take you a week or two at most.”

She stood up, getting ready to leave.

“...Where are you going?”

“Me? On a journey.” She swung her arms in a jogging motion. “I told you I was planning to go on my own once I finished Simus’s treatment.”

“...Yeah, but I thought you’d stay for a few more days, at least.”

“That would be being lazy… The fiends are probably harassing people this very moment,” she said.

“Do you have enough money?” Jun-Ho asked.

“Deok-Gu gave me some. And I got some from Baron Vashti, so I’m rich now.” Skaya flipped a coin in the air, and Seo Jun-Ho caught it.

“What is this?”

“A lucky coin. I always have one with me. It’ll protect you from an instance of misfortune.”

“...I thought you were a mage, not a shaman.”

“Psssh.” Skaya laughed and waved. “I’ll do some investigating for Baron Vashti’s commission. You’re not in great shape anyway. Take a month off, and start moving when you have recovered. And don’t push yourself too hard.”

“...You’re not in great shape either,” Seo Jun-Ho commented.

“But my stats are a lot higher than yours. I’m just slightly weakened. It’s not like all my stats have been reset.” Sure enough, there weren’t many fiends right now who would be able to face her. No matter how much time had passed, the 5 Heroes’ stats were still unbelievably high after taking all those potions.

‘I hope I can recover my stats soon too.’

He still had to regain about 150 more in each stat. His head started to hurt when he thought about how many times he had to level up before he reached his original numbers. The only thing that motivated Seo Jun-Ho was the fact that he would receive more stats per level than others.

“Practice Overclocking while I’m gone, but don’t push it. Your noona will take care of all the fiends, so don’t worry,” Skaya said.

“I’m not gonna go overboard for something like this. I’ll make sure to take my time,” he reassured.

Skaya looked around. “Ah, what a shame. Seems like our little Frost still hasn’t come back from the Spirit World.”

“...”

The Spirit World was a lie. The Frost Queen was simply hiding. Even now, she flinched when her name was called and gripped Seo Jun-Ho’s pant leg.

“It really is a shame. I’m gonna research a way to get into the Spirit World sometime. Maybe I’ll even find a way to locate Spirits.”

Seo Jun-Ho felt the Frost Queen tremble at his feet.

“...Please don’t. Spirits deserve privacy too.”

“Hmph, fine. Let’s take care of the fiends first, and think about it after.”

Skaya gave Seo Jun-Ho her Community ID and waved before disappearing.

“I’m jealous of her Teleport.”

At least he would be able to use it with her during emergencies, which made him feel at ease.

‘Knowing Skaya, she’s probably gonna push herself too hard. I’m worried.’

Skaya knew how much Seo Jun-Ho had struggled alone in the last year to save his friends. She probably thought that it was her turn to take the torch and that it was up to her to do all the work so that Seo Jun-Ho could live comfortably. Skaya had never forgotten a debt.

“...I can’t bring her down.” Even though she had told him to rest up while she took out all the fiends on her own, Seo Jun-Ho had no intention of listening. He wanted to level up and restore his stats as fast as possible so that he could stand by her, side-by-side.

‘And the first step to doing that is Overclocking.’

His eyes blazed with determination as he thought about the tough training to come.

The Frost Queen crawled onto his shoulder after she had gotten bigger, she could no longer fit on one shoulder. “Contractor, open the community window. I wish to edit.”

“...Didn’t you finish it last time? Don’t we just need to upload now?”

“No.” She shook her head. “After returning to Earth, I realized something important after studying the masters. If you give me a few more days, I will create an even greater masterpiece that will please the audiences.”

‘...Masterpiece? Audiences?’

She seemed very committed to her role as a director. Seo Jun-Ho nodded in resignation and opened the window.

While the Frost Queen finished her ‘masterpiece,’ he would master Overclocking.

‘I’ll give myself a month.’

Until his body healed…