***
***
Seong Jihan frowned as he saw the name of The Constellation of Dead Star on the screen.
In a hideout state, how did this guy manage to find and contact me?
‘Wasn’t he banned from approaching Earth?’
Though they had met in the Space League promotion match, now they were on Earth. How did he manage to bypass the system’s restrictions and enter? Regardless, it was troublesome.
‘It’ll be tiresome if we get tangled up, but… he might have information about the Void.’
Seong Jihan had no information about the Void.
To get a clue about it, I may need to contact the ‘The Constellation of Dead Star’ no matter how much he nags about ‘the head!’.
But when I recall him blabbering on about merging,
‘No, I can’t do it.’
Seong Jihan’s hand wasn’t easily going to press the sponsorship approval button.
‘Let’s explore other ways to gather information about the Void.’
Although there were two empty Constellation slots, Seong Jihan decisively pressed sponsorship refusal.
Then,
[The ‘Constellation of Dead Star’ asks you to just accept his sponsorship once and presents an alternative.]
[He suggests an option where the player can withdraw sponsorship anytime. There are no penalties for the player when withdrawing sponsorship.]
The Constellation of Dead Star presented better conditions for sponsorship.
Usually once a Constellation sponsorship was accepted, it was almost impossible for the player to unilaterally terminate the contract.
But The Constellation of Dead Star was willing to give up that binding force, desperately wanting to become his sponsoring Constellation.
‘Maybe I can get information from him and then cancel the sponsorship.’
If that’s the case, it’s a different story.
When Seong Jihan pressed yes,
[The Constellation of Dead Star becomes the sponsoring constellation of Player Seong Jihan.]
[With the effects of the sponsoring Constellation, the efficiency of dark element skills and abilities greatly increases.]
Swoosh…
Black smoke rose up in the air, then instantly changed into the shape of a skull head.
“The head!! Finally… you’ve decided to accept me?!”
Clack! clack!
The skull clattered its teeth, exuding enthusiasm. At the same time, Yoon Seah, who was watching TV on the sofa, was startled and looked at him.
“What… what’s that? Uncle, something weird popped up!”
“Oh, this guy has some potential! Not as much as our head, but still! Ah, but… they’ve already locked in on our headquarters, right? Get out of here!” Karlein gestured exaggeratedly, urging her to go away.
Yoon Seah looked at him incredulously. “Why is he doing that?”
“The headquarters have locked in… What are you talking about?”
“Ah~ She gives off the scent of a witch to me. Witches belong to headquarters.”
“Witch? Are you talking about the Witch of the Void?”
“Yeah, that’s right! As expected of our head!”
As Seong Jihan mentioned the Witch of the Void, the black skull nodded its head.
The Constellation of Dead Star definitely seemed to know something.
Seong Jihan immediately asked him.
“Just what is this Void?”
“The Void? To put it in a way you guys can easily understand, it’s the place that oversees cleanup in the BattleNet!”
“Cleaning… summoning dungeon portals, is that what you mean?”
“That’s right. Races rejected by the BattleNet can’t remain there forever, can they?”
Creak!
The bones at the edges of the skull’s mouth tore open, making a grotesque smile.
“It’s the Void side’s job to neatly clean up those guys.”
“Hmm… Then what are you? You called the Void headquarters, so what are you?”
“Me? I’m in a cooperative relationship with them. In your terms… Yes. I’m a subcontractor, a subcontractor.”
A subcontractor despite being a Constellation of Dead Star.
“The Void must have tremendous forces.”
“Of course! They’re in charge of cleanup! But! Head. If you and I combine… we can take over that position!”
“Is the King of the Sword Kings the king of the Void?”
“No, not that… When we combine, you’ll find out about the King on your own!”
“Anyway.”
“Uncle, why does that skull keep talking about merging? It makes me uncomfortable.”
Hearing the repeated talk of merging, Yoon Seah, who was listening to the Void discussion on the side, looked at the black skull guardedly.
“What! Why?”
“It’s a skull.”
“Hey! If your skin was peeled off you’d look the same! Like this!”
Karlein was bickering with his niece.
Seeing a Constellation acting this way,
Seong Jihan thought coldly.
‘I should cancel this sponsorship quickly.’
Although the information obtained about the Void was still insufficient,
Since The Constellation of Dead Star said he was a subcontractor over there, I shouldn’t ask too much.
Although he didn’t seem to have a good relationship with the Void side, information could flow back at any time.
“Then, that’s enough. Let’s end the Constellation contract.”
“Wait…what? Head! This can’t be! It’s too soon to part ways!”
“No, this is just right.”
“Wait…! Weren’t you curious about the Void? Right! I’ll give you Void abilities!”
Karlein hurriedly sputtered, worried the sponsorship contract would be terminated.
Seong Jihan, who was going to withdraw anyway regardless of what Karlein offered,
“……Void abilities?”
Changed his mind when he offered Void abilities.
Void abilities that couldn’t be handled without Void-related classes like Yoon Seah’s.
If I could get that through this Constellation, it would be a huge gain even if I had to hear some talk about merging.
“Then give it to me.”
“Then, just one time merging and I’ll….”
“If you keep talking about merging, then leave.”
“Tch… Fine. I’ll give you a quest.”
[The Constellation of Dead Star gives the player a Constellation quest.]
[Constellation Quest]
-Use the The Reaper’s power to achieve 1st place in the League Promotion Match.
Reward: Void Ability Stats
The quest Karlein gave seemed simple and easy.
In the upcoming promotion battle at the end of January,
I just had to clinch first place as usual.
However,
“……The Reaper’s power?”
The prerequisite condition was peculiar.
“Yes. I know why you feel repulsed about merging with me. My attribute is death. It’s only natural for a living being like you to instinctively recoil, right?”
“No, I just don’t want to do it.”
“That’s why! Who’d want to merge with a skull?”
“….”
“Anyway! Try wielding the aura of death for once! When you use it, you’ll realize how great it is!”
[Temporarily awakens the power of death under the influence of the Constellation of Dead Star]
[Class ‘Reaper’ is granted for a limited period of one week.]
[Stat ‘Death’ is granted for a limited period of one week.]
[Skill ‘Death Sentence’ is granted for a limited period of one week.]
battle
‘So, he’s giving me a quest to use his abilities? Quite a remarkable obsession.’
‘But this could help my martial soul grow.’
Even on the Chaos Battlefield, Martial soul grew by absorbing the memories of other races.
Getting a handle on energies completely different from what he normally used could broaden his horizons.
As Seong Jihan was accepting the new stats in a positive light,
As Seong Jihan reluctantly accepted the new stats, Karlein exclaimed, “Wait… why only for a week? I tried to put it in for a year!!”
[The BattleNet system detects an access-forbidden entity.]
[The system will no longer allow further intervention.]
[The Constellation of Dead Star is forcibly evicted by the system.]
“What the… I entered the main game now, can’t you close your eyes about it now? Hey!”
However, his protest was in vain.
Swoosh…
The black skull turned into smoke and disappeared in an instant.
[The Constellation of Dead Star sends a message. It is a message from the evicted entity. Would you like to read it?]
[The Constellation of Dead Star sends a message. It is a message from the evicted entity. Would you like to read it?]
Then, a cascade of messages appeared in Seong Jihan’s system window. When the text lines quickly surpassed 50 lines, Seong Jihan made a fed up expression.
“System. Can you block that?”
[Blocked messages from The Constellation of Dead Star.]
“Well done.”
Having escaped the noise pollution thanks to the system, Seong Jihan checked the Constellation quest again.
Although the Constellation itself was driven out by the BattleNet system,
The quest itself still remained intact.
“Uncle, was that thing really a Constellation earlier?”
“Yeah, it’s a somewhat powerful existence.”
“Ugh, but isn’t a constellation the master of the stars? Is being the master of the stars…… less important than I thought?”
“Your mom is a Constellation now, too.”
“Ah, right… If someone like that can become one, I should aim to be a Constellation too!”
Considering the Constellations she had met so far were only her mom and a crazy guy,
Yoon Seah’s ambitions grew boundlessly.
“Wake up from your dream and become a Diamond first.”
“Just watch. I’ll reach level 200 this time and participate! Oh, Uncle. Did you see that notice?”
“What?”
“This time the promotion match is linked with the Space League ranking.”
“Ah, that.”
Seong Jihan nodded.
He hadn’t read the notification but roughly grasped what she was talking about.
‘It seems the League competition is happening now.’
It’s the annual promotional tournament that takes place two to three times a year as an event.
Each time, humanity battles in the lower ranks, losing and gaining league points.
The ‘League competition’ is the main event for this Diamond promotion tournament.
* * *
January 25th.
Originally, it was the day when the large-scale promotion matches were broadcast on Channel 0. However, this year was different.
= Hello everyone!
= You were all waiting for the usual TOP 100 promotion match, right?
= But 2021 is different, the year the BattleNet main game opened. The TOP 100 promotion match will be held tomorrow on the 26th… Today, a special Diamond promotion match linked to the Space League will unfold!
= An all-day broadcast schedule has been set. What kind of game will they play?
With commentators also not fully understanding, this new promotion match gained greater significance than usual.
= This promotion match is more than just climbing up one rank in the league.
= Yes. We won’t just play against other races, right? It’s said that league points are also at stake in this game!
= Humanity is currently ranked 9th. Due to insufficient daily point acquisition, the ranking is at the bottom among those who won only one match. I hope we can win this time and raise our ranking again!
A special promotion match with points at stake that determines the league ranking. Since you could gain up to 10,000 points depending on the rank, it was a significant figure not to be ignored.
People gathered in front of their screens like they did for the opening ceremony, paying close attention to this promotion match.
And what particularly caught their attention was,
-So many points at stake… is Seong Jihan participating?
-Yeah, he’s going for Diamond this time.
-Phew, that’s a relief. The game is over, haha.
-Jihan-nim, please ‘Do it’ for the 100 of us.
Seong Jihan was included in the promotion match list. Having led the opening match against the Elf to victory, he was now taking center stage. Everyone expected good results from him.
This was true for the players participating in the promotion match as well.
“Player Seong Jihan”
“I didn’t know being in a promotion match together would make me this happy!”
“It’s fortunate this game isn’t survival. If it had been, I would’ve been swept away by you in an instant!”
Everyone crowded around Seong Jihan and genuinely welcomed him.
If it had been any other promotion match, they would’ve done their best to avoid being matched up with Seong Jihan.
But since this was an inter-race competition,
Having a capable player like Seong Jihan was unconditionally advantageous.
However, Seong Jihan’s expression as he received their cheers was subtle.
‘Hmm…….’
Seong Jihan extended his right hand, and for a moment, a crimson light flickered there before quickly extinguishing.
The ‘Death’ stat granted by Karlein.
Seong Jihan had tried to utilize it for a few days, but he couldn’t grasp any clues on how to use it.
‘This is really elusive… if it doesn’t work in a real battle, I might have to give up on the quest.’
It might have been different if he was participating in a promotion match alone, but with humanity’s league points at stake, Seong Jihan looked at the aura of death with a doubtful expression.
[Special promotion match, ‘League Competition,’ begins.]
He entered the game.
***
***
