Return of the Frozen Player

nd prize waiting at the end.

‘He said that those who work hard have time on their side.’ 

This meant that time would always be on Arthur’s side.
Because from that moment, he decided that he would never slack on training…

Slam! 

Specter pushed him over, knocking him out.
“Why are you running around in circles like that? Whether you use your pistol or not, you should’ve just attacked me.
In a real battle, no one would just stand by and watch.”

‘That’s… true…’

‘He’s not wrong…’

The Watchguards unwittingly nodded along.

***

Specter’s battle training lasted from morning to night.
During that time, not a single Watchguard managed to even touch him.

“Just how much more skilled is he?”

“Why are you surprised? Our opponent is Specter-nim.”

“But still… He was still recovering his strength until just a few weeks ago.”

“If a tiger gets sick, can a rabbit defeat it?”

“Well, when you put it like that…”

Players were pure… no, they were prideful.
Even if their opponent was a legendary Player, they would still feel bitter if they spent the whole day being beaten up.

Defeated, the Watchguards started to go over their matches with serious expressions on their faces.

‘Why did I get hit? Well, I guess it’s because I’m weak…’

‘Specter-nim isn’t even going faster than us.’ 

‘He’s using the same level of speed and strength as us.
I’m sure of it.’ 

Despite this, they hadn’t even been able to graze him.
Why was there such a big difference in skill when they were supposedly equal? The Watchguards looked for the answer as they started analyzing the videos they had recorded.
It was their first time analyzing their combat techniques like this since they had become Players.
Most Players had probably never done this either.

‘My breathing got cut off here.
That’s why there was more strain on my body overall.’

‘I made too many unnecessary movements here, so I couldn’t even dodge a slow attack.’

‘My skill is good for momentarily blocking the opponent’s vision.
But a smart opponent will be able to estimate roughly where I am.
In that case, it might be better to create distance when I distract them…’

It was an unfamiliar experience.
It was easy to observe other people and give them tips, but it was hard to be objective with yourself.
If it weren’t for Specter, they probably would have never had this sort of experience.
This training technique was also systematically used in big Guilds for their newbies.

‘Looks like everyone learned something…’ 

Seo Jun-Ho smiled under his mask.
He swung his cudgel without even looking to the side.

Crack! 

“Ow!”

“It might come faster than I thought…”

The day that the Watchguards entered the world, evolved.

***

One week of basic stamina training.
One week of battle training.
The training curriculum was unmatched.
But when the two weeks ended, the Watchguards’ spirit had changed.

‘They have better lower-body strength, they have better looks in their eyes, and their stamina has improved.’ 

As they looked up at Specter, their eyes were filled with boundless faith and respect.
His cudgel had hurt, but his beatings hadn’t been senseless.

‘He only did it so that we could learn…’

‘The beatings had a deeper meaning behind them.’

‘Maybe he didn’t take in students in the past because he was too soft-hearted to beat them up.’

They misunderstood him greatly, but they couldn’t put down their rose-tinted glasses.
Even if they saw Specter picking his nose, they would probably think that there was some deep meaning behind it.

“Two weeks isn’t a long time, but it’s not short either,” Specter spoke as he looked upon the Watchguards lined up in front of him.
“Thank you for following me without complaints.”

The Watchguards sniffled and bit down their lips.
It had been hard, but their time and effort had paid off.
They had gone through a lot, and their stamina had greatly improved as a result.

“But don’t think for a moment that your training is over.” Specter looked each of them in the eye.
“When I finished training Gilberto with this curriculum, he came back to me half a year later.”

“…Half a year later?”

“Yes.
He kept running until he reached his limits and he also spent a lot of time hunting.”

The Watchguards swallowed.

“After half a year… What happened to my father?” Arthur asked, sounding nervous.

Specter shrugged.
“When he came back to me, the grades of all his skills had increased by one or more.”

“The grades of all his skills…”

“One or more?!”

Their jaws dropped.
Gilberto hadn’t been some natural genius.
He had started at the bottom just like them, or maybe even lower.

‘I thought I would die after two weeks of this training…’

‘But he did it for an entire six months.
He must have an iron will…’

‘Players like the Gray Envoy don’t just appear out of nowhere.’

‘He was just a normal Player, and all he did was train himself.’ 

Hope blossomed in their chests.
With a precedent already in place—maybe they could also become the protagonist of a story.

“But even if we can just run on our own, isn’t it hard to gain battle experience?”

“Why do you think that?” Specter asked.
“There are even stronger monsters here than on Earth.”

“…Then Gilbert-nim trained with monsters?”

Even though they called it battle training, their lives had never been in danger when they fought Specter.
But monsters were different.
A small mistake when fighting them could mean death.

‘He was probably scared.’

Even though they had a lot of experience hunting monsters, they usually fought monsters that were significantly weaker than them.
Fighting monsters stronger than you with your life on the line was completely different.

“Are you guys all thinking what I’m thinking?” Arthur asked.

“Of course…”

“Even if we’re not thinking the same thing, I’ll do as you command, Captain.”

Specter hadn’t expected them to react like this.
They looked calm, and their eyes were filled with determination.

“Specter-nim.” Even though the training was over, Arthur still called him ‘Specter’ instead of ‘Uncle.’

“What is it?”

“You won’t be able to contact me for a few months.
Please explain this to my father.”

“…You guys are gonna do isolation training?” Specter’s eyes softened as he looked at the Watchguards.
If one person gave up, two or three would follow.
“It’s gonna be hard.”

“But we still have to do it.” Arthur looked determined.
“I realized that the fiends are much stronger than I thought.
We’re just a bunch of little fish in a big pond.”

“We’re Players.
We can’t just live in someone else’s shadow forever.”

“We have to get stronger.”

Specter laughed out loud for the first time as he looked at them.
He was proud of them.
The Watchguards looked at him quizzically, not understanding why he was laughing.

‘If you guys are able to meet my standards once you finish your isolation training…’

Then, Specter would lead the Watchguards himself.
He had never led a team because he didn’t like the hassle of it, but he had never encountered a group of people so hopelessly stubborn either.

‘I can’t just leave them to die…’ 

They might just become his first team.