I Gain Infinite Gold Just By Waiting-Chapter 223: Episode 46_The Ice Castle Lord (5)

7.

“Dungeon Management?”

He had technically received it when he defeated the Ice Castle Lord and inherited the Ice Castle’s authority.

At the time, though, there had been so many holograms popping up, and he had been focused on his level and gold, so he had put it off.

He hadn’t had the luxury of paying attention to it anyway, since he had to deal with Jeong Cheol right after, then head straight home and spend time being fussed over by Jeong Seora and her mother.

So he was only looking at it now.

There was nothing particularly flashy about it.

It was nothing special, but it was solid—one of those features that made you let out a low whistle.

“Wow.”

That was Kim Buja’s one-line review as he looked over Dungeon Management.

“So this is how they’re planning to drain my gold?”

It didn’t look like something that was part of the Ice Castle’s inherent rewards.

If it were, then everything under “Dungeon Management” wouldn’t be demanding so much gold.

[Dungeon Management]

▶ Grade: (S) Legendary

▶ Category: SVIP1 Skill

▶ Level: 1

▶ Dungeons Owned: 1

1. Ice Castle

▷ Level increases when SVIP2 is activated.

▷ Spend 10,000,000 gold to increase the level.

▷ Spend 3,000,000 gold to increase the number of dungeons you can own by 1.

Anyone could see it was another one of his gold-maker skills.

It had just been hidden, and acquiring a dungeon had unlocked it.

The amount of gold it demanded was so steep it made his tongue click, reeking of capitalism and gold-worship, yet his eyes sparkled.

“So this was hiding in here, huh?”

There were some features that didn’t unlock just by reaching a certain level, but only when you met specific conditions.

There probably weren’t many of them.

Even thinking about it, there weren’t that many systems that made sense to hide like this.

But something like this—“Dungeon Management,” opening up right when he had just acquired the Ice Castle and had no idea how to run it—didn’t feel off-putting. If anything, it felt exactly like what you would expect from a “growth-type” class.

He slowly looked around the interface.

When he tapped the one dungeon he currently owned, he saw that, just like the holograms he hadn’t checked yet, the Ice Castle’s skills were neatly organized in a more concise, readable format. On top of that, there were functions that let him develop and utilize them.

“A dungeon maker, huh,” he muttered.

Take “Blizzard,” for example.

He didn’t even need to look at anything else.

Just thinking about how to manage and upgrade the two skills he had already checked—“Blizzard” and “Return”—the very first ideas that came to mind were already sitting there in the Dungeon Management menu.

“Raise Blizzard’s freeze level?”

Was that even possible?

No one in their right mind would think this was just bumping it from level 5 to level 6.

Items with a level-5 status effect immunity option were so rare worldwide that fewer than a hundred people owned them, and those people were said to be sitting on a fortune large enough to live in luxury for the rest of their lives.

And this was a level-6 status effect?

If he upgraded this and publicly declared that people were free to come hunt, it would still be such a terrifying option that no one would dare to try.

With this alone, he could stop worrying about anyone sneaking into the Ice Castle, poaching monsters, and stealing his points.

“Haah.”

Of course, it was such an obviously broken feature that it was impossible for now.

▶ Raise Blizzard freeze effect level 5 → 6: 20,000,000 gold / SVIP level 3 required

The stronger the gold-maker feature, the more gold it demanded in return.

Twenty million gold.

The only saving grace was that all gold-based gold-maker content costs were reduced by 50%.

He only needed to gather ten million gold.

And reach SVIP level 3.

Thinking of it that way made him feel a bit better.

“A level-6 freeze-locked Ice Castle... that’ll be around the time I can solo-clear this place the proper way.”

At the same time, he suddenly found himself missing his old VIP days.

“Suddenly locking it at a flat 50%, huh.”

With his Gold Power stat on the rise, he had started to wonder if an era of 99% or even 100% discounts might actually be on the horizon.

He wasn’t particularly disappointed that it hadn’t happened, though, since he’d never really believed it would go that far in the first place.

In any case, plenty of other functions were available, and he used the gold earned from conquering the Ice Castle Lord to purchase several upgrades.

Most of them were related to monster respawns.

Since this was reality, monsters couldn’t literally be created from nothing. But this was still a dungeon, so "monster respawn" was a real mechanic. The game’s effect had manifested in the real world, creating a kind of magic that brought something from nothing.

It wasn’t like in a game, where dozens of monsters would suddenly spawn in a large group. The respawn rate was less than 1% of the total monster population, but he still spent about two million gold to increase that probability.

“Breed like crazy, will you,” he muttered.

He was planning for the long term.

Not only the Fly Guild but he himself planned to visit the Ice Castle whenever he had time to farm points. If the monster population only dwindled without being replenished, the castle’s value would inevitably drop.

Besides, there was no need to see the Ice Castle as just a piggy bank for points.

Why had people been so afraid of the Ice Castle and its Lord?

It was a dungeon that had appeared in the real world. A dungeon, yes, but its doors were always open.

Thanks to that, players could come and go freely, making a round trip even without meeting the clear conditions. Conversely, this meant the monsters could do the same.

Even setting aside the simplistic idea of marching them off to war, he was sure they would be useful someday.

’There’s no guarantee only one Ice Castle will ever appear.’

For Kim Buja, they would be a powerful weapon.

“It’s so pretty. There are penguins, too.”

“Come visit often. I already spoke to the guild master, so he’ll probably be here soon.”

“I love you.”

And a very nice gift as well.

* * *

There were exactly three players in the entire world who could enter the Ice Castle: Fly, Kim Buja, and Jeong Cheol.

People hurled a torrent of criticism at Kim Buja’s unilateral decision and firm refusal, but just as many defended him. And since the man at the center of it all showed no reaction, the uproar gradually died down.

—It’s his dungeon. He can do whatever he wants with it. Why is everyone losing their minds?

—The ones yelling “Open it up!” are all just leeches trying to get a free ride, right?

—No one even thinks about making an offer; they just want something for nothing.

They weren’t wrong, so the top-ranked players had no choice but to grit their teeth and look for other options.

The only silver lining was that it didn’t seem completely impossible.

—Fly makes sense, but what’s the deal with Jeong Cheol?

—What do you mean, “what’s the deal”? Kim Buja is in the Jeong Cheol Guild.

—Wasn’t that just a membership in name only? This is the Ice Castle; there’s no way he let them in for free.

—True. Fly has a contract, so they’re paying a fair price. There’s no way a penny-pincher like Kim Buja would let Jeong Cheol in for nothing.

—Same guild + his girlfriend is Jeong Cheol’s daughter + they probably gave him a ton of stuff to make it happen.

—So you’re saying it’s not impossible?

—Kim Buja’s still human. Give him what he wants, and he’ll give you access. It’s not like the monsters are a finite resource.

—How much would it take?

—You think money is enough? The guy’s drowning in cash.

—Maybe they paid him with a Legendary item or something?

There were plenty of rich people in the world.

Especially among the top-ranked players, many believed there was nothing they couldn’t buy with money. They might not be the richest people on Earth, able to buy literally anything they wanted, but if something caught their eye, they were confident they could acquire it by throwing enough resources at the problem without bruising their pride.

Those people started reaching out.

Naturally, the Fly Guild didn’t respond, and not many players were bold enough to poke them in the first place.

Fly was a high wall.

The summit.

From his number-one spot, he radiated an overwhelming presence that went beyond mere skill.

It was an untouchable majesty.

And they couldn’t exactly ask the man himself, either.

No matter how confident a top-ranked player might be, they still had some common sense. They were the desperate ones, ready to bow their heads and swallow their pride to get into the Ice Castle. If they went to Kim Buja and asked, “What do we have to give you?” there was no way the man who had publicly declared it wasn’t for sale would kindly tell them his price.

The Jeong Cheol Guild was the easy target.

They had maintained their position as the number-one guild in Korea since the national competition, but on the global stage, they were still the most approachable.

A flood of inquiries poured in.

The staff had been dealing with this sort of thing for a long time. After the Ice Castle conquest, the guild had gotten so busy that it was hard to tell if it was the Jeong Cheol Guild or the Buja Guild, so they simply made it a policy to ignore such messages.

However, not all of it ended with simple inquiries.

Many players came in person.

Jeong Cheol quietly contacted Kim Buja.

A few days later, a rumor began to spread.

—It’s out. The way to get into the Ice Castle.

—What is it?

—How did you find out?

—Supposedly, the info came straight from Jeong Cheol himself.

—Holy shit.

It started as a quiet rumor.

That rumor passed from one small group to another, eventually spreading so widely that it even reached the online communities.

—How does “secret info” end up on a public forum?

On the surface, it made no sense.

That’s what made it a rumor—the sheer number of people who’d heard it.

But once they heard the details, they couldn’t help but nod in grim understanding.

—The condition is: you have to spot Kim Buja right after his awakening two years ago, sign a contract with him, recruit him into your guild, and then, over the course of those two years, have a daughter as pretty and smart as Jeong Seora who develops a romantic relationship with him. Then, it’s possible.

No matter who the original source was, anyone who heard it would spread it with a "screw it, whatever" attitude.

—It’d be faster to just find another dungeon.

—So basically, they’re saying they’re going to hog it all for themselves.

The sense of futility turned back into anger, but once again, it had little effect on Kim Buja or the Jeong Cheol Guild, who simply went about their business.

And then, a new opportunity presented itself to everyone else.

[Event]

▶ Type: EXP Event / Catastrophe

▶ Grade: Legendary

▶ Reward: EXP buffs distributed by contribution

▷ A Harbinger of Great Calamity has appeared. Destroy and eliminate the harbinger before it can take root.

▷ The “Harbinger of Great Calamity” will grow larger and stronger as time passes.

▷ EXP buffs will be awarded according to each individual’s contribution to resolving the catastrophe.

It was an event that might be even more welcome than the Ice Castle.

After nearly a year with almost no events, a new one had finally appeared. It was Legendary grade and offered an EXP buff on top of that.

It wasn’t the Ice Castle, but it was the next best thing. Countless players began to move in a frenzy.

—Where is it?

—Where is it! I’m heading out right now!

Perhaps because so many people were interested, the event—the catastrophe—was discovered quickly.

—Found it!

—The Sahara Desert!

And just like that, the blazing excitement cooled.

The phrase “event and calamity” made it painfully clear that a Legendary-grade reward also meant a Legendary-grade disaster.