The reason why I decided so was because I needed the Ice Weapon skill to be level 3, so it could synergise with the Ice Emperor's Guardian Sword in the future. I also thought that it was better to keep Ice Shield, which looked the least necessary, in case of a party hunt or group fight. Besides, my 'Iceman' trait which could upgrade to level 7 was a hidden trump card which could help me escape unexpected danger.

As a rule, it's customary to maintain a few low-rank skills.

High rank magic shills require a certain amount of mana, but they inevitably have a long cooldown period.

So, an excellent wizard needed to properly distribute levels to the magic skills according to their rank..

For this reason, I upgraded my Ice Bolt Skill to level 3 but left my Ice Ball skill at level 2 during the 3rd Closed Beta because of the lesson i was taught during the 1st and 2nd Closed Betas.

But I suddenly thought, 'I am completely different to who I was during the 1st, 2nd and 3rd closed betas.'

So, I tried upgrading all of them.

[Would you like to upgrade Level 2 Ice Ball, Level 2 Ice Bolt, Level 2 Ice Weapon, Level 1 Ice Shield, and Level 2 Multiple Ice Arrows all at the same time?

-A total of 160,000 golden rings are required.]

"Upgrade them all."

I replied immediately because I can delete skills when they are useless later.

When the upgrading was finished,the next page of skills appeared.

This time I picked the new skills that I had to obtain.

-Level 3 Ice Prison (Active, requires 1 skill point and 120,000 golden rings.)

: Creates a prison made of ice in a certain area.

: The size and defense of the Ice Prison increases according to the user's Intellect.

: Level 3, Level 5, Level 7 Ice Prison exists.

-Level 3 Thin Ice. (Active, requires 1 skill point and 75,000 golden rings.)

: Creates a layer of thinly frozen ice in a certain area. However, if Thin Ice is already used in an ice area, the effect of Thin Ice becomes up to five times more effective.

: The chance for extra effectiveness and the amount of additional thin ice increases according to the user's Intellect

: Only Level 3 Thin Ice exists.

Ice Prison and Thin Ice are skills that I used often in the previous closed betas.

In particular, Thin Ice was essential for fighting on an ice field because only Level 2, Level 5, and Level 7 Ice Fields exist. In other words, I had to use only the Level 2 Ice Field until I could upgrade it to level 5 which would take a considerable period of time. Hence, what I needed was a Level 3 Ice Field in between which could be achieved with the Thin Ice skill .

[You have chosen Level 3 Ice Prison and Level 3 Thin Ice.

-A total of 2 skill points and 195,000 golden rings is required.

-Do you want to obtain them?]

"Sure."

Since I already knew their effect, I chose them immediately.

Then I started checking other skills to use the remaining 1 skill point, regardless of whether they were AOE or single target skills. Then I found a skill.

-Level 3 Ice Spear (Active, requires 1 skill point, requires 75,000 golden rings)

: Throws a powerful Ice Spear at enemies within 30 meters.

: Attack range and damage increases according to the user's Intellect.

: Level 3, 4, and 6 Ice Spears exist.

Ice Prison was a utility type skill that can be used for both attack and defense, while Thin Ice was definitely AOE.

So, I chose Ice Spear that boasted the most powerful single target damage among all the lEvel 3 single target skills.

Honestly, the absence of Blizzard-grade skills among the AOE skills also made me choose Ice Spear.

After obtaining Ice Spear, I returned.

***

An auction house exists in the Pioneers' City.

However, it was empty. It was more empty than any other auction house.

That's why I couldn't understand the Gahwa Guild's behaviour. They collected a toll even though this region was not a good hunting ground that offered good items or an unusually large amount of EXP. Besides, they also collected a toll even in the city where people were supposed to come and go frequently. Accordingly, it was inevitable for the number of users who visited this hunting ground to decrease. Consequently, the decrease in visiting users would also cause the Gahwa Guild's revenues to rapidly decrease.

It was a sort of vicious circle.

What's more surprising was that the Gahwa Guild continued to do business as usual without stopping collecting the toll. Anyone with only a two-digit IQ would realize how stupid they were.

'Do they have something special?'

Naturally I was suspicious about their actions, but I didn't think about it for long because I didn't have to worry about the Gahwa Guild's situation.

So, I went straight to the auction house and tried to search for items.

[Item Search: ]

Soon after the item search popped up, I entered Level 200, main stat Intellect, Precious grade, and minimum enhancement value 3 as my search criteria.

Then, the items that fell within this search range came out in a bundle.

I originally planned to wear the Saidin's armor set, which was quite useful even though it was Level 100 and of a Rare grade, which was lower than Precious by one grade.

Maybe I could level up to Level 300.

I did not get frustrated or feel things were very difficult while I was wearing the Saidin's armor set,

Although I was facing a big battle soon, I had a big surplus of golden rings.

That's why I stopped by this auction house while I was on my way back.

I doubt it would happen, but I would regret it very much if I were killed in the upcoming battle, so I had to prepare for every potential danger. If something really happened, I would have many regrets for having not used my golden rings that I piled up for saving.

Anyway, while checking several listed items, my eyes were caught by one of them. It was Elsha's armor set, a set item like Saidin's armor.

[+3 Elsha's Robe (Precious)

-It is a robe made with great care by Elsha', a fairy-type wizard who has not only magic but also excellent dexterity.

-It is part of Elsha's armor set, which is composed of a robe, pants, gloves, and boots. Additional effects occur when worn with other set items.

: When wearing 2 items: Intellect is increased by 10.

: When wearing 3 items: Intellect is increased by 30

: When wearing 4 items: Intellect is increased by 50.

- You can wear this robe when you are at least Level 200.

-Effect.

: Intellect is increased by 35.

: Willpower is increased by 20.

: Mana is increased by 5000.

: 2.5% increase in resistance against all debuffs towards the set wearer.

-Physical defense is increased by 222, magic defense is increased by 355]

[+3 Elsha's Pants (Precious)

-Pants made with Elsha's great care, a fairy-type wizard who has not only magic but also excellent dexterity.

-It is a part of Elsha's armor set, which is composed of robe, pants, gloves, and boots. Additional effects occur when worn with other set items.

: When wearing 2 items: Intellect is increased by 10

: When wearing 3 items: Intellect is increased by 30.

: When wearing 4 items: Intellect is increased by 50.

-You can wear these pants when you are at least level 200.

-Effect.

: Intellect is increased by 35

: Physical strength is increased by 20.

: Vitality is increased by 5000.

: 2.5% increase in resistance against all debuffs towards the pants wearer.

-Physical defense is increased by 255, magic defense is increased by 315.]

[+3 Elsha's Gloves (Precious)

This set was definitely worthy of a level 200 Precious grade set.

It's for this reason that this set boasted more luxurious options than the Saidin set.

Aside from the debuff resistance bonus, I really liked the 50 Intellect bonus that came from wearing all four items in the set.

"Let me purchase Elsha's armor set."

[You need a total of 1,373,500 golden rings to buy a total of four items.

-Would you like to buy them?]

The price was quite high, costing nearly 1.4 million golden rings.

However, I chose to buy them without hesitation because I had enough golden rings to spend this much. Instead, I took off the set items of the Enhancement 3 Saidin set that I was wearing currently, then uploaded them to the sales window at an appropriate price lower than what I had purchased it at the time. It was more profitable to me to sell it quickly than to drag my feet while insisting on a high price.

So, I took off Saidin's armor set and put on Elsha's armor set instead, before leaving the auction house.

If Saidin's armor set was successfully sold, I would receive a message about it later. Then I could come back and receive the remaining balance. I went straight to a tavern called Maint in the west gate that Kihanna mentioned. I wanted to stop by the tavern because I wanted some information.