The moment he saw the notification message,

Walfred’s eyes went wide.

He couldn’t help it.

Before fighting the Bone Drake, the last level he’d checked was a mere 30.

’But it says Level 48?’

So he doubted his own eyes.

Standing there in a daze, Walfred muttered toward the empty air, just to make sure he hadn’t misread it.

"...Status."

-----

[Name]: Walfred

[Level]: 48

[Attribute]: Frost

[Mana]: 4,800

[Rank]: C

[Experience]: 12.84%

-----

He hadn’t misread it.

Walfred had achieved explosive growth, and upon passing Level 40 he’d ascended from D-rank to C-rank. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

’This is honestly insane.’

He never expected to gain this much experience.

It seemed the A-rank Elite Monster had earned its reputation after all.

His growth had come faster than expected, so Walfred wiped the surprise off his face and replaced it with a satisfied look.

But that lasted only a moment.

Soon a question crept up on him.

’Huh? Now that I think about it, didn’t they say the shop function unlocks once you hit Level 40...?’

He’d definitely heard exactly that from Bauer in the past.

Yet oddly enough, no separate system notification had appeared.

Just like when the Hunter Community function had activated before, a notification message should pop up whenever a new function unlocked, going by what was normal.

So why hadn’t it? Just as he was tilting his head in confusion,

a guess suddenly struck him.

’Ah! Could it be because this is a Forbidden Zone?’

The place he currently stood in was the Nest of the Frost Dragon.

According to the system, it was a place called a Forbidden Zone. So just as Community access was impossible here, maybe using the shop was impossible too?

That was Walfred’s guess.

Around the time he was wrapping up those thoughts,

[Skill proficiency has reached its maximum.]

[Skill level has increased.]

a welcome message appeared.

It was a message announcing a skill level increase.

[Cold Resistance: (Lv.2) → (Lv.3)]

[Cold Emission: (Lv.2) → (Lv.3)]

[Frozen Weapon: (Lv.1) → (Lv.2)]

[Ice Needle: (Lv.1) → (Lv.2)]

Four skills that had all leveled up at once.

Then again, he’d spammed his skills nonstop while fighting the Bone Drake in this kind of freezing weather, so their levels rising was only natural.

Walfred checked each skill one by one.

And.

’Nothing changed much.’

Cold Resistance had risen slightly, the interval and range of Cold Emission had increased, and on top of that the mana cost of each skill had dropped a bit. That was all.

Around the time he’d looked over all the skill information,

he suddenly heard the baby dragon’s voice.

"Hey, Daddy."

A pair of tiny hands tugged at his winter coat.

The child, her deep blue eyes sparkling, looked up at Walfred with a slightly serious face. Then she parted her tightly closed lips.

"What’s my name?"

"Your name?"

"Yeah. I can’t remember."

The child wore a dejected expression.

If that was the case, did that mean she’d originally had a name?

But Walfred didn’t know the child’s name either. Even in the system message, her name had shown up like garbled characters.

So he couldn’t give her any real answer, and as the silence dragged on,

’Couldn’t I just give her one right now?’

the thought suddenly came to him.

If she couldn’t remember it, there was no need to recover her old name. He could just give her a new one.

And if her old name came back to her later? He could just use that one again then.

’Right. Let’s do that.’

Having sorted out the situation, he looked at the child.

Her shimmering silver hair.

And the snow piled softly at her feet. Looking at all this, Walfred opened his mouth without hesitation.

"Elsa."

Child of snow.

It was simple, but he couldn’t think of a name that suited her better. Meanwhile, at Walfred’s words, the child’s eyes went round and she asked again.

"My name’s Elsa?"

"Something like that."

"Elsa, Elsa..."

After murmuring the name several times,

Elsa broke into a bashful smile.

"Yeah! I memorized it. I won’t forget now!"

The instant those words left her mouth,

a system message appeared.

-----

[A name has been given to □□.]

[Name]: Elsa

[From now on, you can check ’Elsa’s’ status. It activates automatically when you look into the target’s eyes and speak the command.]

-----

’Status?’

But only Hunters have a status.

Surely she hadn’t Awakened the moment she received a name? Along with that absurd thought, Walfred looked at Elsa and murmured the command.

And in that instant,

Elsa’s status window unfolded.

-----

[Name]: Elsa

[Level]: 48 (Resonance)

[Species]: Dragonkin - Pureblood

[Mana]: 48,000

[Trait]: Frost Feast

[Skills]: Blessing of the Frost Dragon, Roar of the Frost Dragon, Shared Sight, Polymorph, Frost Immunity, Cold Immunity

-----

"...!"

Walfred was stunned.

The first thing that caught his eye was the staggering amount of mana. Looking at the mana figure alone, she had a full ten times more than Walfred.

Her level was synced with his, too.

But the most shocking part was the trait.

[Frost Feast]

A trait perfectly identical to Walfred’s unique skill.

Whether they just shared the same name, or matched all the way down to their effects, he’d have to look closer to know.

’Wait, in that case...’

In that instant, Walfred remembered.

The potion that had once turned him from a non-Awakened into a Hunter, and had even granted him the Frost Feast skill on top of that.

[Essence of □□]

A word that had been covered in unreadable characters.

Back then he’d had no clue what those characters even were, but thinking about it again, he felt like he knew exactly what that word was.

’Don’t tell me that was the Essence of the Frost Dragon?’

Maybe that was why Elsa had said he smelled the same as her.

Feeling as if scattered puzzle pieces were clicking into place, Walfred nodded.

At the same time, a new question welled up.

’But why was it lying in a place like that?’

The [Essence of □□] had been buried deep in a pit back then, in a place full of snow and ice. But he had no idea where it had come from.

’The only thing I can guess is...’

The White Dome.